The restaurant industry is decimated by closures and restrictions to slow the Covid-19 pandemic and a lack of stimulus. Rohini Dey, Ph.D. owner of Vermilion restaurant and co-founder of the James Beard Foundation’s Women’s Leadership programs, started Let’s Talk Chicago - a group of 25 leading women restaurateurs to help each other counter the crisis, build bargaining power, visibility, and undertake joint economic and political action. Backed by the James Beard Foundation, Choose Chicago and the Illinois Restaurant Association, these women entrepreneurs have redefined collaborative models. Let's Talk is now run by Dey across ten cities and more than 250 women restaurateurs.
Learn how entrepreneurs are building scale and combatting this crisis jointly, a model worth emulating across sectors. And how restaurants, indeed all retail, has transformed the fundamentals of their "what, to whom, and how," using technology platforms.