What’s the best dish in York County? A new restaurant food trail may help decide it.
For folks who enjoyed the drinks, it’s now time to hit the main course. Plus the apps and desserts.
Off the success of the YoCo Brew Trail, Visit York County will launch the YoCo Taste Trail early next year. It will take diners on a tour of the best culinary fare York County has to offer.
“Very similar to the YoCo Brew Trail, except for we are focusing on restaurants,” said Billy Dunlap, CEO of Visit York County.
The YoCo Brew Trail drew thousands of people since it started about a year ago. It won a state award for top new initiative in an emerging destination.
“If you’re in the craft beer world, you know about the YoCo Brew Trail,” Dunlap said.
It’s part of the reason the area brewery scene continues to stay hot.
YoCo Beer Week formed among many of the same destinations from the trail — Amor Artis, Dust Off, Lake Wylie, Legal Remedy and other brewing companies — and runs through Nov. 16. Visitors continue on the brew trail with regularity, Dunlap said.
“That continues to thrive,” he said.
Looking to seize momentum, Visit York County asked restaurants through mid-September to submit their top dishes. Restaurants could submit only five, and each restaurant can show up on the taste trail only once. It has to be a year-round menu item.
Nominations and voting led to a top 15 dishes, to be announced in January.
“We’ve got our top desserts, our top appetizers and our top entrees from all corners of the county,” Dunlap said.
Guests will head across the county to participating restaurants, using an app and the #YoCoEats to show they were there.
“Your goal is to take the Visit York County app, download the YoCo Taste Trail, and check in at 12 of the 15 restaurants and sample their part of the taste trail,” Dunlap said.
He’s hopeful YoCo Taste Trail can do for dining what YoCo Brew Trail did for beverages.
“We are very excited about what the YoCo Taste Trail is going to do for our culinary scene in York County,” Dunlap said.
The effort is about more than fun, or even just a good eat. Dunlap said various forms of tourism contributed $38.2 million in direct economic impact to York County in 2018-19. Restaurants touch most all forms of tourism. With new additions coming like the Carolina Panthers headquarters and Riverbend park project in Rock Hill, a strong food scene will become increasingly important.
“York County is going to need to raise its profile in terms of dining, because of the visitors that are going to be coming,” Dunlap said.
Visit York County recently completed its 2020-23 strategic plan. Lodging and fine dining were big parts of it, as were adding event space and retail.
“Part of our job is going to be to identify who those restaurateurs are, and figure out how we get them into the places we need to get them,” Dunlap said.
His group also will focus on issues of how to recruit, train, house and transport hospitality workers. Some larger areas face worker shortages in hospitality, something Dunlap wants to avoid here.
“That is not really an issue here yet, but we are one of the only destinations that it is not an issue,” he said.
Visit York County lists more than 400 restaurants in Rock Hill, Fort Mill, Clover, York, Lake Wylie and Tega Cay.
Once the taste trail announcement hits, more information will be available at visityorkcounty.com or yocotastetrail.com.
This story was originally published November 12, 2019 at 10:17 AM.
