Recent protests over pay in the fast-food industry have drawn the headlines. But a longer, less noisy fight is being lodged at the top levels of the organization chart across the larger food service industry.
For more than 20 years, the Women’s Foodservice Forum has been working to develop women for top management jobs in the nation’s third largest economic sector. It’s been a rocky road, despite the involvement of many major companies in the industry.
While women represent about 60 percent of entry-level food service employees and 50 percent of frontline managers, they make up less than 10 percent of C-level executives and board members.
The forum believes training and mentorship form the recipe for reversing the pattern. It operates a mix of online and in-person training programs that include a northeast regional event Sept. 12 at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y.
Counted among the forum’s prime supporters are major companies with Connecticut connections — Coca-Cola, Darden (Red Lobster, Olive Garden and Capital Grille), food supplier Sysco, PepsiCo, Aramark, Campbell Soup and Yum Brands.
According to its website, WFF serves more than 20,000 individuals and over a 1,000 organizations in all segments of the industry including operations, manufacturing, distribution, publishing, consulting, and more.
Its argument for greater diversity in top jobs extends beyond fairness. A study by the Catalyst group found Fortune 500 companies that had diverse leadership delivered better financial results.
One of the people at the center of the fight to get more women into top jobs is Carla Cooper, CEO of Daymon Worldwide, a private brand and marketing giant based in Stamford. She was involved with the forum from its early days and served as its chair from 1996 to 1999. She received the organization’s Trailblazer Award earlier this year.
Under Cooper’s guidance, the forum took the unusual and controversial gender-bending stance of inviting participation by men. Today, about 20 percent of the forum’s almost 9,000 members are men, says Kelly Primus, the forum’s vice president of marketing. She says most of the male members join for the leadership training while others get involved seeking insight into how to work with upwardly mobile women managers.
Among the forum’s male members are Rafi Taherian, executive director of Yale Dining, and Roy Johnson, brand manager with Pepperidge Farm, with operations in Bloomfield and Norwalk.
“This is a large affinity group that promotes programs and conversations about how women can advance their careers at the company and more generally in the industry,” explains Tricia Wise, senior director of organizational effectiveness & learning at Daymon. “Even a company as large as ours can’t offer everything to our associates in terms of training and professional development, so it is good to be closely aligned with a high-quality organization like the WFF.”
That professional development program includes an online assessment of 12 core leadership competencies, virtual webinars, a leadership library and “success talks.” In-person programs include regional connect events, an annual convention, development events and executive summits.
Among those attending a recent executive summit in Chicago were Laura Hinkel, vice president of sales at FM Facilities Maintenance in Hartford and Chris Chait, a leadership development associate with Daymon.
“My biggest takeaway was learning more about sponsorship programs,” said Chait. “The consulting firm Deloitte presented research about how effective these are at promoting the careers of women not just in our industry, but in general.”
Mentorship — sponsorship in the language of WFF — is a recurring theme at forum events.
And the emphasis on sponsorship also extends to networking, Wise adds. “They really bring together experts and leaders from across the industry who really understand what we do.”
Membership — priced at $199 per year — isn’t right for everyone, Primus says. The organization aims its programs at those already in leadership roles — a restaurant general manager, for example — and looking to move up the corporate ladder, she says.
WFF reports that 98 percent of members report a positive career impact from their exposure to forum programs.
