Women in restaurant tech
This post is in honor of International Women's Day — not that I need a reason to highlight our hard work!
March is Women’s History Month. Friday, March 8, is International Women’s Day. There’s no better time than the present to celebrate intelligent, hardworking women.
Here’s some good news: by reading this newsletter, you are supporting a woman in restaurant technology. (It’s me!) I have never been more excited about my work, and am proud of what Expedite has become.
But enough about me, because this edition of Expedite is about women I admire.
Not quite two years ago during a restaurant tech conference in Las Vegas, a group of women in the industry met at a bar on the casino floor. The event was over and most of us were headed to the airport, but we managed a casual hang on the way out the door. I’m so glad we did. We talked about challenges at work, in life, with work life, while parenting, and more. It was a lovely moment of inclusion and camaraderie. The best part? The looks we got from our male colleagues as they walked past.
“What awesome thing are we missing?” they seemed to ask.
I’m not sharing this story smugly. I’m sharing it because… data.
Per TechCrunch, female-founded companies in the U.S. raised $44.4 billion out of the $170.59 billion in venture capital allocated last year; that’s 26 percent. Further, numbers show that women are underrepresented in senior leadership roles at work. According to the World Economic Forum, just under a third of roles are held by women, despite an overall workforce representation of 41.9 percent. And as reported by the smarties at Jenny Magazine, a Deloitte survey of women in ten different countries showed that 40 percent of women report prioritizing their partner’s career over their own, in part because of domestic demands like childcare. I understand why all of this happens. I wish it didn’t.
I’m always proud to share success stories in this newsletter. I’ve linked some of my favorite conversations with awesome women in restaurant tech below. I’d like to have more of these chats, so please get in touch to talk about your project, your amazing colleague, or any other initiatives that deserve much more time in the spotlight.
As always, thanks for reading.
About the future of the reservations business, with OpenTable CEO Debby Soo
“It's been hard work to move us to a restaurant-first mentality, what we do, how quickly we do it, how much we listen, how flexible we are — all of it. It takes time. To see now the fruits of our labor has been, for me, at least one of the best parts of the year. I think what we’re doing is working, and people are noticing. They say OpenTable feels different.”
Camilla Opperman, founder and CEO of Nimbus, a New York-based “co-cooking” space, talks hospitality
“We work to maintain some semblance of hospitality, which I think a lot of others have ignored. At the end of the day, this industry is about gathering around a table, exchanging stories, and enjoying food. We create physical spaces for people to do that.”
Elizabeth Tilton, Oyster Sunday CEO, on leveraging technology to launch a nationwide benefits network for restaurant workers
“This is built for and by the industry. The entire reason Oyster Sunday exists, and can exist, is by economies of scale. We can make things affordable to restaurants so they get the support they need. That’s what we’re doing with care.”
Allison Page, co-founder and chief product officer at SevenRooms, talks direct bookings and CRM
“If hotels functioned like restaurants, this is what this would look like: I would go to Marriott’s website to book a reservation, and Marriott would redirect me to Booking.com to book. Then I become a customer of Booking.com. That sounds ludicrous, but that is actually the state of the restaurant industry.”
Opus CEO Rachael Nemeth on practical, responsible, and helpful AI for helping restaurants educate employees
“I think we’re in the first phase of managers and operators learning how AI can benefit them and how they can use it. I don’t think it’s a steep learning curve, but I do think there’s a trust curve. It’s about getting people to understand that this is not going to replace the need for you to come in and add a human element.”