Restaurateurs 'turn up the heat' at LA Women Business Leaders Conference

As part of the annual programming for the Louisiana Women Business Leaders Conference and hosted by the Nicholls State University Center for Women in Government (LCWG), three Louisiana Restaurant Association (LRA) members participated in the panel “Culinary: Turn Up the Heat,” on Sept. 19, 2014.

Anna Tusa, co-owner of The Crazy Lobster and member of the LCWG, invited LRA VP of Communications Wendy Waren to moderate the panel. She recruited panelists Ti Adelaide Martin of Commander’s Palace to join her along with Restaurant Specialist Dianne Sclafani of the Louisiana Small Business Development Center. The four decided to focus the panel on the important role women play in the restaurant industry and professional development as it relates to women.

“There is no glass ceiling in our industry,” said Waren. “Fifty percent of all restaurant owners are women and from 1997 to 2007, the number of women-owned restaurants jumped by 50 percent. That’s remarkable evidence to the ever-growing opportunities that women can create for themselves.”

 

Other indicators, specifically as it relates to women are 70 percent of wait staff are women and these positions are among the highest-paying occupations in the industry. Forty-five percent of foodservice managers are women and 58 percent of foodservice supervisors are women, compared to 38 percent in other industries and 43 percent in retail.

“One of the things I do to develop the women coming up in my company is bring them to conferences just like this one,” said Tusa. “The majority of the managers I employ are women. Having them attend sessions like this one helps them expand their thinking to consider what it takes to be better business leaders and better people in their personal lives, too.”

Questions to the panelists ranged from their professional affiliations and how they have benefited professionally to the best of advice they receive from a mentor.

“My mother Ella Brennan is my mentor and she is a great example of one,” said Martin. “She has always encouraged me to be the best woman, in personal and business relations, that I can be. She’s also been a mentor to legendary New Orleans chefs who began in the kitchen at Commander’s Palace before taking that next step in their careers.”

A mentor can be a parent, co-worker, teacher or a boss, and in an ideal world, everyone would have a mentor and be a mentor. Some of the most successful business leaders often attribute their position to having a mentor’s support, coaching and encouragement.

“I try to be accessible to my staff,” added Martin. “Many times, just listening to someone while they are working through a challenge or situation can make all the difference in their development. Then bringing to their attention something they might not have considered or sharing a similar experience may be just the inspiration they need to move through to a higher level of engagement and thinking.”

According to The 2014 State of Women-Owned Business Report, Louisiana ranks 12 (70.9%) in the U.S. by growth in number of women-owned firms between 1997-2014. Louisiana ranks fifth in the nation of growth in women-owned firm revenues with 143.8%. 

LRA members help launch WFF 100k Strong Commitment to advancing women leaders campaign

LRA Members Haley Bittermann, Lauren Brennan Brower,
Karen Coaxum, Anna Tusa, Ti Martin, Susan Spicer, Debbie Pierce,
Katy Casbarian with LRA President/CEO Stan Harris,
 NRA President/CEO Dawn Sweeney, WFF Board Chair Susan
Gambardella and WFF President Hattie Hill. 

Women’s Foodservice Forum (WFF), the nation’s largest nonprofit organization focused on advancing women leaders and gender parity on executive teams , launched the WFF 100K Strong Commitment Campaign, an industry-wide call to action to support the advancement of women leaders, at its annual Executive Summit.  Over 200 foodservice industry leaders and several prominent New Orleans restaurateurs—Haley Bittermann, Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group; Lauren Brennan Brower, Dickie Brennan & Co.; Karen Coaxum, Coaxum Enterprises; Anna Tusa, The Crazy Lobster; Ti Martin, Commander’s Palace, Sobou, Café Adelaide; Susan Spicer, Bayona Restaurant; Debbie Pierce, Bon Ton Café; Katy Casbarian, Arnaud’s & Remoulade Restaurants & French 75 Bar—joined to lend their support to the national campaign.

“Women are significantly under-represented in C-suite and executive teams and we are asking the foodservice industry to create more opportunities for this group,” said Hattie Hill, WFF President and CEO. “We officially launched the WFF 100K Strong Commitment to Advancing Women Leaders Campaign at our Executive Summit in order to enlist industry support in our mission to help create a pipeline of talent to increase representation in the executive ranks of our nation’s second largest industry.“

The WFF 100K Strong Commitment Campaign is designed to spur foodservice leaders nationally to publicly acknowledge the importance of advancing women leaders, as well as:

1. Encourage others to take on and sign the commitment at their company
2. Sponsor women leaders in their organizations
3. Partner with WFF to create leadership development programs that build key competencies.

Women represent 60 percent of first-line food prep managers and service workers, yet only 15 percent of foodservice companies have 30 percent or more of women represented in senior teams. “We all have work to do to achieve our goal of advancing women leaders and the support that we receive will help to reinvigorate and set a path for greater things to come,” said Hill.

The advancement is not only the right thing to do but, according to a study by the American Sociological Organization, there is considerable economic value in better gender-balanced leadership teams, noting that improving gender diversity by a mere one percent leads to a three percent increase in sales.  (Source: http://www.asanet.org/press/20090331.cfm)

Throughout the campaign, WFF will provide resources to help women navigate their road to leadership.  That support began July 28 with the release of a WFF whitepaper entitled – “A Roadmap to the C-Suite.” Sponsored by Rich’s Foods, the whitepaper is the result of a year-long research study that focused on critical factors that influenced the success of women in the C-Suite, including: risk taking, strategic thinking, business and financial acumen and driving for results.

WFF encourages all leaders to log on and sign the WFF 100K Strong Commitment to Advance Women Leaders campaign at www.WFF100KStrong.org. The campaign will run through December 2015.  

Foodservice Industry Statistics

• The restaurant industry is the nation’s second largest private sector employer with a workforce of 13.5 million. (Source: National Restaurant Association)
• The foodservice industry, which includes retail sales, operator purchases and manufacturer shipments, is expected to generate $1.2 trillion in aggregate sales in 2014.  (Source: Technomic). 
• One in 10 people have worked in the foodservice industry at some point in their career
• Today, women represent 51% of the population and influence $12 trillion of the overall $18.4 trillion in global consumer spending (Catalyst), and have always played the lead role in the food choice decisions for her and her family.  (Source: www.catalyst.org/knowledge/buying-power)

ABOUT WFF 

WFF is the industry’s premier leadership development organization with more than 25 years of experience advancing women in the foodservice industry. WFF serves thousands of individuals and hundreds of employers in all segments of the industry including operations, manufacturing, distribution, publishing, consulting, and more. Through highly effective and educational events such as the Annual Leadership Development Conference, Executive Summit and Regional Connects as well as professional development and networking opportunities, WFF delivers competency-based leadership development programs and builds strategic industry connections that make a positive difference in the careers of women in the foodservice industry. For more information, visit wff.org.

New Orleans Culinary & Hospitality Institute selected to purchase former ArtWorks Building

The Louisiana Artists Guild announced yesterday afternoon their selection of the New Orleans Culinary and Hospitality Institute (NOCHI) as the purchaser of the former Louisiana ArtWorks building located at 725 Howard Avenue. The purchase is to be financed by a loan from First NBC with guaranties pledged by Bill Goldring, Phyllis Taylor and David Kerstein through The Helis Foundation. 

“We were thrilled to learn of the selection of the NOCHI proposal for the ArtWorks building located on historic Lee Circle,” said George Brower, a member of NOCHI’s board of directors.  “It is a win-win for the City of New Orleans, the State of Louisiana, our citizens, our workforce and the preservation of our unique culture.”

NOCHI’s plan is to bring together providers of higher education to collaborate in a new model of training, education, and research and development that integrates existing and new programs at Delgado Community College, the University of New Orleans and Tulane University.  

“NOCHI is already a symbol of what can happen when diverse people, multiple universities, a city and a state come together to make an important idea come to life,” said Ti Martin, another member of NOCHI’s board of directors that also includes Dickie Brennan, John Besh, Edgar Chase III and Barbara Mollere.  “Our city deserves a center for excellence to study, teach, innovate, and celebrate our culinary history and to chart a path for the history we want to make in the food world.” 

Delgado has executed a cooperative endeavor agreement with NOCHI to locate their existing certificate and associate degree programs alongside NOCHI’s other programming and services in the former ArtWorks building.  NOCHI plans to complement and augment the offerings of Delgado’s Hospitality and Culinary Center and the existing degrees offered through the University of New Orleans School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Administration by creating baccalaureate and master’s degree programs in the culinary arts, as well as courses geared to the general community and unique culinary tourism experiences.  

"The decision by the administration to select NOCHI as the purchaser of the Artworks Building is a true testament to the commitment of the parties involved in creating this high profile institute," said Stan Harris, President/CEO, Louisiana Restaurant Association. "NOCHI will provide a platform for these various culinary and hospitality interests to work together to elevate educational offerings in New Orleans."

In addition to offering world-class training and education at all levels of higher education, NOCHI’s mission is to support research and development in the food and hospitality space and plans to establish a food/hospitality business incubator in partnership with a leading local business or economic development organization.  

"The placement of the institute on the Howard Avenue corridor provides exciting potential as an entrepreneurial incubator area for hospitality, technology and related businesses," added Harris.  

NOCHI expects to begin construction by the end of this year and to launch full-scale operations of the building in time for the Fall 2016 semester, with parts of the building’s long-term operations going live as early as the end of 2015. 

The strength of NOCHI’s bid for the former ArtWorks building lay in its strong public purpose of driving workforce and business development in the Greater New Orleans region, in addition to sustaining the original mission of the ArtWorks building of investing in the cultural fabric of New Orleans to improve the quality of life for its citizens and to attract students, visitors and influencers from around the world. 

“Let me tell you,” said Leah Chase, New Orleans chef, author, and television personality.  “We need this. This school can put so many of our young people on a variety of career paths that can stabilize families and lift our city.  The culinary arts are as important as all the other enriching arts. This is who we are . . . let's take it to the next level, keep moving, keep it going.  New Orleans is big enough to have everything.”

Founded in 2013, the NOCHI is an independent, 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to advance the development and practice of the culinary arts, and to support the growth of the hospitality and tourism industry in the New Orleans region through world-class training and education and the incubation of research and development that will further develop both the culinary arts and the hospitality and tourism industry at large.