Nearly 14 years ago, Tara Jones Haaf found herself leaving the art industry as the economy took a downturn. Looking for stability, she relocated to Santa Barbara, one of the few cities that had plateaued rather than suffered significant fallout.
Instead of returning to the art world, Haaf chose to forge a new path — a decision that ultimately led to the creation of Eat This, Shoot That!, the food-and-photo tour company she founded soon after arriving.
“You know what? I’m just going to try something,” she recalled thinking. “There were no food tours in Santa Barbara yet, we were the very first. Pitching the idea to restaurants was pretty wild. A lot of them were hesitant, but here we are now.”