A taste for tours A taste for tours A taste for tours

In the world of Annie Sim, CEO stands for “chief eating officer.” It’s with that delicious sense of humor and a passion for culture and cuisine that this UW alum has cooked up a business of bespoke culinary journeys. This year, her company, The Table Less Traveled, is staging two trips to Japan and one each to Portugal, Peru and Italy. At the same time, her home-based business, Savor Food Tours, brings visitors and locals to explore Seattle-area food and culture.

Looking back, Sim, ’07, realizes the things she loved most in her childhood—eating, sharing experiences, exploring and independence—were early clues to her calling. “My parents, aunts and uncles—almost all of them—were small-business owners or something like it,” she says.

When she was in middle school, her parents first ventured into the food manufacturing and distribution business, supplying noodles, wonton wrappers and fortune cookies to local stores and restaurants for the next 20 years. Then, in 2019, Sim’s father, Camillo Cheng, ’76, and brother Isaac, ’05, bought Tsue Chong Co., a century-old Seattle food company best known for its Rose Brand products.

Sim’s own entrepreneurial streak showed up early. At 16 and newly licensed to drive, she had the idea of creating custom fortune cookies to sell to local banks and businesses. She printed fortunes at home at night, trimmed them by hand and paid to have them baked into cookies at her family’s factory.

“It wasn’t super successful,” she says, “but it was a great way to cut my teeth on creating an idea and seeing it come to fruition.”

Culinary adventurer Annie Sim delights in Seattle’s flavors while guiding a bite-sized tour at Pike Place Fish Market.

At the UW, Sim’s interest in business deepened. “Most people consider accounting to be boring, but understanding how the world works from a business perspective and how you can build your own financial success was really interesting,” she says.

After graduation, Sim tried on several careers—marketing, project management, telecom—none of which felt right. She had been saving for a down payment on a condo when she made the pivotal decision to quit her job and use the money to fund a half-year trip around the world. Visiting six countries and spending weeks in each, she was moved by how food connects people and reflects cultural identity. “When I came back, I didn’t know how to apply that.” It took more time and travel to crystallize her idea: creating meaningful travel experiences centered on cuisine. “I wanted to elevate food as a way to explore the world,” she says.

Fear of failure nearly stopped her. But Sim’s aunt, Theresa Cheng Borin, another UW alum and faculty member in the School of Dentistry, re-framed the dilemma. “She asked me how much it would cost to do the research, build the product and market it,” Sim says. “When I told her, she said, ‘If you succeed, great. If you fail, it will be the best tuition you have ever paid.’”

Sim started The Table Less Traveled in 2014, with Malaysia as the first destination. “Food is so much a part of the multi-ethnic national identity,” she says. She spent weeks building relationships and securing access travelers wouldn’t find online.

Today, deep local connections at the destinations make for immersive, authentic experiences that include cooking classes, farm tastings and time with chefs, cheese-makers and artisans.

That sense of community defines the business. “We keep the trips small, special and intimate,” she says. The company accepts 12 travelers per group.
Closer to home, Sim acquired Savor Seattle Food Tours in 2024. “The clientele is a mix of locals and tourists,” she says. “In the winter, it’s locals rediscovering Pike Place Market. In the summer, we welcome travelers heading to Alaska cruises.”

For Sim, the journey—like a great meal—is always better when shared.