CHICAGO — Grubhub, the nation’s leading online and mobile food-ordering and delivery marketplace, today announced its continued commitment in supporting women-led restaurants during the second year of the company’s RestaurantHER initiative.
To expand on this initiative, originally announced in February 2018, Grubhub is partnering with the James Beard Foundation, one of the most influential organizations in the restaurant industry, specifically supporting the organization’s Women’s Leadership Programs, which is committed to advancing women in the culinary world. As part of this partnership, and beginning March 1 through the end of the month, Grubhub diners can “Donate the Change” by rounding up their order to the nearest dollar and donating the difference to this program, including the “Women’s Entrepreneurship Leadership” track. This programming provided by the James Beard Foundation is built out by its volunteer-based advisory council comprised of chefs, restaurateurs, business leaders, academics, and other experts.
“Correcting gender imbalance in the restaurant and culinary industry is a mission we’ve been extremely committed to for several years now,” said Katherine Miller, VP of Impact at the James Beard Foundation. “In partnering with an industry leader like Grubhub we’re able to combat this issue together, creating and providing the best tools and resources to train, support, and empower women throughout all stages of their professional careers.”
Additionally, to build on the momentum created at last year’s launch, Grubhub has added thousands of women-led restaurants to the well-received RestaurantHER map, which is an interactive resource to help diners locate and support establishments run by women nationwide. Launched as the first of its kind in 2018, this map incorporates restaurants owned or co-owned by a women or a kitchen led by a woman head or executive chef. Whether it’s Washington D.C.’s Pizzeria Paradiso run by Ruth Gresser, recently nominated as a James Beard Award semi-finalist for “Outstanding Restaurateur,” or Seattle’s Nue founded by Uyen Nguyen, diners can now easily order their favorites or find something new with more than 30,000 women-led restaurants within the map.
Lastly, as part of the 2018 RestaurantHER initiative, Grubhub and Women Chefs & Restaurateurs (WCR) worked together to develop a toolkit for aspiring female chefs and culinary leaders: Sharpen Your Skills. A guide of resources and best practices, this toolkit was built to help women navigate and address the challenges they face in today’s restaurant industry. Additionally, Grubhub contributed to WCR’s scholarship and mentorship programs, supporting and connecting over a dozen women in the culinary industry through formal apprenticeships.
“Continuing our efforts for the second year with Grubhub’s RestaurantHER initiative, and with a partner like the James Beard Foundation, is incredibly exciting and shows this is a cause many of us recognize is important,” said Matt Maloney, chief executive officer of Grubhub. “Women only make up 19% of chefs, and only 7% of head chefs, in today’s culinary world, and we know as a company we have the responsibility to raise awareness and make an impact on not only the industry, but our own platform as well. There’s no doubt that more diversity and overall support for women-run restaurants will spark new creativity and expertise to create and lead future generations of restaurateurs.”
For more information on Grubhub’s RestaurantHER initiative, visit https://restauranther.com/, or to learn more about the James Beard Foundation’s Women’s Leadership Programs, visit https://www.jamesbeard.org/women-leadership-programs.
About Grubhub
Grubhub (NYSE: GRUB) is the nation’s leading online and mobile food-ordering and delivery marketplace with the largest and most comprehensive network of restaurant partners, as well as the largest diner base. Dedicated to connecting diners with the food they love from their favorite local restaurants, Grubhub strives to elevate food ordering through innovative restaurant technology, easy-to-use platforms and an improved delivery experience. Grubhub is proud to work with more than 105,000 restaurant partners in over 2,000 U.S. cities and London. The Grubhub portfolio of brands includes Grubhub, Seamless, LevelUp, Tapingo, Eat24, AllMenus and MenuPages.
About the James Beard Foundation
The James Beard Foundation’s mission is to promote good food for good™. For more than 30 years, the James Beard Foundation has highlighted the centrality of food culture in our daily lives. Through the James Beard Awards, unique dining experiences at the James Beard House and around the country, scholarships, hands-on learning, and a variety of industry programs that educate and empower leaders in our community, the Foundation has built a platform for chefs and asserted the power of gastronomy to drive behavior, culture, and policy change around food. To that end, the Foundation has also created signature impact-oriented initiatives that include our Women’s Leadership Programs aimed at addressing the gender imbalance in the culinary industry; advocacy training through our Chefs Boot Camp for Policy and Change; and the James Beard Foundation Leadership Awards that shine a spotlight on successful change makers. The organization is committed to giving chefs and their colleagues a voice and the tools they need to make the world more sustainable, equitable, and delicious for everyone. For more information, please visit jamesbeard.org and follow @beardfoundation on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
