At a time when male restaurateurs are making it big with their new ventures, women in the F&B industry seem to be taking charge in their own way. They tell Riya Sharma the reasons why women are dissuaded from taking up the profession
When the restaurant business is marking a revolution by introducing gastronomical experiences to the country, there seems to be another factor that is turning heads towards the industry. The profession which had seen mostly male owners has started to witness a shift, as women have begun to open their own restaurants with their own set of conventions and pre-requisites. If someone wants to work only with healthy food, others are specific in selecting their own menu.
Even when they have taken the big step, there seems to be much confusion, at times, concerning the owner as well as ‘where is the man in the house’IJ We bring to you some of the women in Food and Beverage industry who tell us about their ‘not so sweet experiences’, problems that they initially faced and how, not having a man boss can actually be used in their favour.
Sana Chopra, executive director, Carl’s Jr, India shared with us that there are a few women in the industry at the mid and senior level. According to her, “One thing that I’ve noticed is that males are not used to taking instructions from a woman and often find it demeaning.”
Another challenge that she finds in the industry is that the profession demands 24x7 attention, long operating hours, and this is the reason why she thinks that a woman entering the business should be strong and smart enough to balance her personal and professional life.
Vani Vats, owner at The Jugaad Café and Bar, on the other hand, feels that women are more privileged and there are no challenges as such that come in the way. “Women are more privileged when it comes to dealing with the vendors as they maintain a decorum when dealing with a woman owner. Plus women are better bargainers, too. So it works very well for the business,” she added.
But, what about the attitude of those working under herIJ “All of that completely depends on how strong you appear or portray yourself as an owner. One should be have the ability to lead others. And if you know your job well, eventually people listen to you,” Vats replied.
But, recently when we attended the three-day creative festival, The Coalition, we got to know from Kainaz Contractor, co-founder and owners at Rustom’s Parsi Bhonu and Rustom’s Cafe and Bakery, Delhi, that she is very specific in hiring her employees. “I have had sour experiences with my employees where they were not so keen in taking up orders from a female boss. This is the reason when I hire my employees, I make sure that I observe their personality. Skill is one thing but you cannot change the attitude. Even when they look, eye-contact is very important. You can actually make out whether the person will respect you or not,” she added.
“I handpick every single employee in the organisation — right from a crew member to someone at the top. I’m also very particular in being direct during interviews and I openly ask them whether they’ll be comfortable to take instructions from a 24-year-old woman. I have a little bias though — I tend to prefer hiring employees who talk highly of their mothers, sisters, wives and daughters working. I gauge on their mannerism and basic respect towards a female boss and then only hire them,” shared Chopra.
Naina de Bois-Juzan, owner of le Bistro du Parc, who was also present at The Coalition shared that when she started her cafe, people were not ready to accept the fact that she was behind the idea. “They could not accept the fact that I wasn’t an assistant to anyone. When I started, most of the time, people questioned me on who I was working under,” Naina shared.
At the discussion, others agreed that sometimes, it works in their favour. “When you have a person coming for an inspection, they tend to delay it for the simple reason — that there is no man at the restaurant. It is a funny thing but we don’t wish to have favours like those,” echoed all of them.
Chef turned restaurateur, Karishma Dalal from Bombay Salad Co. told us that while she was a chef, she did not understand the logistics which go behind setting-up a restaurant. “I did not know where the sourcing came from. I did not understand the logistics and this is why I worked with a restaurant first, where I learnt everything,” she shared.
She feels that while opening your restaurant, the biggest barrier is the money. “The money involved in setting up a restaurant and rents are higher so one has to be prepared while opening a restaurant,” she said.
She added, “I know people talk about a woman being in a male-dominated area. For me, the issue has never been that I am a woman. Had I been a guy, I would have probably made the same mistakes. Though I would agree that you have one or two bad experiences but that is part of your life. But I don’t think about it and don’t consider myself as a woman in the industry.
I consider myself as an entrepreneur in the field and I think the moment when you start categorising yourself as a woman then even normal things start to bother you. I am 28 right now, and I started working when I was in my early 20s. And when I used to work at Taj, there were seven male chefs and three female ones but I think the disparity has always been there. It is not specific to India, and the situation is similar worldwide because the industry is demanding in terms of hours.
While you are younger, you can put in more hours but eventually when you decide to settle down, you cannot devote such hours. This is a serious industry and you can’t say, ‘I am not fine today.’ And this is one of the reasons why women are dissuaded from taking this profession. If for instance, the restaurant shuts down at 12:30am, then you are supposed to create an environment where your women employees can reach home safely. This is the reason why people prefer hiring men because you don’t have to worry about them leaving at late hours. This is also one of the reasons why it dissuades some to hire women employees.”