BUSINESS

Food a big draw for Montana tourists

Erin Madison
emadison@greatfallstribune.com


The Ranch at Rock Creek focuses on ranch-style cuisine. Local ingredients give guests a taste of Montana.

PHILIPSBURG – Guests visit the Ranch at Rock Creek to experience Montana.

They get that exposure through fishing, hiking and horseback riding, but also through food.

"The cuisine is a huge part of the guest experience," said Josh Drage, executive chef at the Ranch at Rock Creek near Philipsburg.

Guests savor their stay through all their senses, whether it's the soothing sound of Rock Creek outside their room, the feel of a fly rod in the hands or the taste of locally produced bacon.

Drage aims to give guests, who come from all corners of the globe, a chance to sample Montana through local ingredients and traditional ranch cuisine.

"As a cook, you want them to feel like they've eaten Montana food," Drage said.

Increasingly, travelers also want to feel like they've experienced the places they visit through the food they eat.

A recent report by the Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance and Skift, which offers trend reports on travel and tourism, found that culinary tourism is on the rise.

"While cuisine has always been an important part of most travel experiences, the concept of traveling to a destination specifically for its (food and beverage) product is a relatively recent mainstream consumer trend," the report states.

From 2006 to 2013, the portion of leisure travelers who said they wanted to enjoy unique dining during their travels grew from 40 percent to 51 percent.

Executive chef Josh Drage prepares a meal at the Ranch at Rock Creek. Drage focuses on giving guests a Montana experience through the food he serves.

As travelers are focusing more on food, destination marketing organizations are working to promote cuisine, and restaurants and resorts are working harder to offer unique culinary menus.

"Every traveler today has the ability to digitally share their culinary experiences with friends and strangers around the world, fueling a veritable social media arms race to determine who has the most unique (food and beverage) experiences," the Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance report states.

The Montana Office of Tourism recently launched a new marketing campaign focused on food.

Making its way to key cities is a food truck called the Montana Mercantile.

"This is basically a food truck that is done up to resemble an old western store front," said Dan Iverson, public information officer for the Montana Office of Tourism.

The Montana Mercantile food truck gives away free buffalo jerky and huckleberry ice cream. It made stops in Chicago, Minneapolis and Seattle.

"We can actually give them a taste of Montana," Iverson said. "Hopefully that tides them over until they can take a vacation here."

The Montana Mercantile also features a selfie mat — a mat with scenes of Montana printed on that people can stand on to take selfies.

The Montana Mercantile is a food truck run by the Montana Office of Tourism. It made stops in Chicago, Minneapolis and Seattle, giving away buffalo jerky and huckleberry ice cream as a way to promote Montana as a tourism destination.

Nationwide, food services is the No. 1 category in which travelers spend money.

In Montana, it's No. 2, behind vehicle fuel, Iverson said.

In 2012, tourists spent $201 billion on food services nationwide. In Montana, that number in 2014 was $708 million.

"It's definitely no small amount," Iverson said. "No matter what people are doing, they have to get around, eat and have a place to stay."

The Montana Office of Tourism focuses its marketing on a three-legged brand for the state — spectacular unspoiled nature, vibrant and charming small towns, and breathtaking experiences by day, relaxing hospitality at night

The culinary aspect falls under that third leg with relaxing hospitality by night, Iverson said.

Montana's lack of chain restaurants can be very appealing to travelers, he said.

Rather than grabbing a burrito at Chipotle, travelers can instead find a local restaurant.

The cuisine might not be the reason people are getting on a plane and coming to Montana, but it can be an important aspect of a trip once they arrive.

Central Montana tourism recently launched its pie trail, a map online and in the most recent travel brochure listing 19 places around central Montana that serve pie.

The pie trail gets visitors out to small communities, said Gayle Fisher, executive director of the Central Montana Tourism Region.

"My first goal was to try to come up with something that would disperse visitors to our small communities," Fisher said.

The pie trail also gives visitors an authentic Montana experience while they're there, in the form of locally made pie.

Six years ago when the Ranch at Rock Creek was just getting started and Drage was the new chef there, he focused on serving food that tasted good. Over time, he's narrowed that to food that, of course, still tastes good but also enhances a Montana ranch experience.

The Ranch at Rock Creek features numerous dining areas, each with a different atmosphere. The large Buckle Barn can accommodate big groups and also offers an area where guests can interact with the chef.

Drage also tries to expand guests' food horizons during their stay.

"Something like morel mushrooms, some people have never had those before," he said.

Elk is another dish many guests have never tried.

"Those are things people can't have anywhere else," Drage said.

Drage also puts a lot of effort into using local ingredients.

He gets beef from the Mannix Ranch near Helmsville. Asparagus comes from a farm in Charlo.

Drage has also worked to incorporate Montana-grown ingredients he may not otherwise use. For example, he uses camelina oil in his homemade granola and uses chickpeas in dishes, because many farmers grow them as a rotation crop.

"Just getting all these things to where they need to be is very complex," Drage said. "It does take a lot of effort."

However, that effort helps guests feel like they're part of the Montana food growing and producing community.

"When we're in the dining room talking to the guests, a lot of times we're talking about the ingredients," Drage said.

Sous chef Ben Miller and executive chef Josh Drage serve a meal at the Ranch at Rock Creek at the outdoor grill.

Drage even organizes an annual field trip for the food and beverage staff to visit some of the farms and ranches that supply food to the Ranch at Rock Creek.

"Now our server has that connection as well," he said.

Many guests enjoy their Montana food so much that they end up ordering bacon online when they get home, and many ask to stop at Le Petit Outre in Missoula to pick up a loaf of Birdman Bread on their way to the airport.

Reach Great Falls Tribune staff writer Erin Madison at 406-791-1466 or emadison@greatfallstribune.com. Follow her on Twitter @GFTrib_EMadison.