As great as Fisherman’s Wharf is, San Francisco wants to get tourists into other neighborhoods. As part of a program that highlights small businesses located outside of the city’s main tourists spots, the SF Travel Association has chosen 10 new recipients to join the ranks. Now in its third year, the neighborhood partnership grants give small businesses a one-year SF Travel membership and access to the association’s networking events and promotional services. Recipients also get assigned a mentor – someone with a similar, yet more established business – to help ideas on how to grow their business.
The only requirement for the program is that the small businesses are located outside of a tourist area and have the potential to attract tourists. This program is helping tourists get off the beaten path, and allows small businesses to reach a larger audience. Lawrence Acosta of Grub Crawl, one of last year’s recipients, says, “We gained a lot of traffic last year and saw a big increase in people signing up to do the crawl.” Grub Crawl also reported a 30% increase in online sales! On top of all of that, Acosta says that the research that Grub Crawl had access to – such as who is coming to the city and when – was invaluable.
This year’s lucky businesses are:
- Civic Center Community Benefit District
- Discovery Street Tours (A PCV-advised company!)
- Cotton Basics
- Good Vibrations Antique Vibrator Museum
- SOMArts Cultural Center
- Mudpuppy’s
- La Cocina (A PCV partner!)
- Lovejoy’s Tea Room & Attic
- Streets of SF Bike Tours
Congratulations to the businesses above!! To learn more about the program visit www.sanfrancisco.travel.