- Click here to buy tickets.
- For last minute reservations you may call up to 90 minutes prior to tour departure to check availability – call 425 888-8837.
JAN MARIE JOHNSON: Seattle Bites is delighted to have Jan Marie Johnson leading your extraordinary behind-the-scenes tour of Pike Place Market. Jan Marie’s years of world-travel, her culinary education as well as creative background with both The Walt Disney Company and Universal Studios Hollywood brings a unique talent that makes this lively tour full of food, facts and a heaping-serving of fun.
Jan Marie developed her food expertise while attending culinary school and led a team that snagged a “Future Chefs of Seattle” award. Seattleites also know Jan Marie as the creator of the acclaimed Festival at Mount Si Chili Cook-off, Burstin’ with Blueberries Dessert and famous Twede’s Pie Eating Contests.
She also has taught local cooking classes. Before moving to Seattle her creative and marketing talents were utilized in such areas as the opening of Euro Disney & California Adventure for Walt Disney Attractions and back-lot extravaganzas (e.g., Academy Country Music Awards, Jurassic Park, and Back to the Future) at Universal Studios.
Jan Marie brings a life that compliments the market like no other tour. She is renowned on her travels for scoping out hidden restaurants, connecting with the best local guides, and exploring wineries, kitchens, and farmer’s markets.
Bringing these talents and interests back home to Seattle, she continues to research (and taste) all that Pike Place Market and Seattle have to offer. As Seattle Bites’ founder and tour leader, she shares this wealth of information and enthusiasm bringing the most unique and memorable experience to you all with a “permission to have fun philosophy”.
KRISTIN VAN BODEGRAVEN: Kristin Van Bodegraven has found her calling as a Seattle Bites Food Tours host. After 20 years in the entertainment industry, Kristin struck a different path through the Culinary Institute of the Pacific on the island of Oahu where she served as the executive chef and owner of Chez K Catering. After years in the kitchen Kristin combined her love of entertainment of cooking through a Le Cordon Bleu Master’s of Gastronomy through the University of Adelaide in South Australia. Her dissertation topic was the symbolic use of food in sitcoms and by all accounts she is the first gastronome to research this genre. Kristin is also a produced playwright and essayist. Her one woman cabaret, “And I Can Cook, Too…” is a journey through our co-mingling relationships with food, money, and love. Her essays on food adventures have been broadcast on Adelaide Radio through a series also called “And I Can Cook, Too…”
After completing graduate school Kristin decided to relocate to her favorite city in the U.S. – Seattle. Here, she met Jan Marie Johnson and soon found herself feeling like the luckiest spice in the whole drawer as she spends her days guiding guests through the Pike Place Market.
MARLA CONTINI: Leaving the world of corporate sales behind her Marla began her search for the perfect opportunity to engage with people in ways different than before. She had traveled the world experiencing the culture, food, and people in such faraway places as Portugal, South Africa, Argentina, and American Samoa. Closer to her Seattle home Marla had contributed in the corporate sales world as well as in not-for-profit organizations, enjoying all of this.
But…..she was ready to contribute in a new and different venue, in a hustling, bustling, people focused, action packed atmosphere where she could capitalize on some of her favorite delights.
Possessing a forever passion for hosting parties and other events, enjoying public speaking, and having a quick wit and love of fun times, Marla discovered the perfect venue to marry these as a tour host at the Pike Place Market.
Delighting in the scents, sounds, and sights of the market, Marla thrives on sharing all its wonders with her tour guests with total focus on the best possible guest experience.
Food, fun, frivolity, market history – package these up and tie it with a Marla-bow and you are presented with a wonderful experience – an entertaining, informative, and yummy tour of Seattle’s Pike Place Market.
Now let’s go take a bite out of the Market!