Grubhub's Newest Initiative Aims To Promote Women-Led Restaurants

Grubhub has announced a new initiative dedicated to supporting women-led restaurants nationwide called RestaurantHER. The much-loved food delivery app has pledged to contribute $1 (up to $1 million) for every person who pledges at RestaurantHER.com to dine in or order delivery from women-led restaurants from February 26 to the end of March, which is Women's History Month.

The first $100,000 of Grubhub's pledge will be donated to Women Chefs & Restaurateurs, a group of diverse women (and a few men) who are dedicated to helping women flourish in the restaurant industry. According to a press release from Grubhub, their major contribution will sponsor WCR's scholarship program and the development of a digital toolkit with resources that will help create equitable kitchens.

Grubhub has also made a map, featured on RestaurantHER.com, that will show users the locations of women-led restaurants nationwide. All restaurants listed will be either owned or co-owned by a woman or have a woman head or executive chef. Site users will also be able to submit women-led restaurants themselves that may not be listed.

The Daily Meal spoke with Amanda Cohen, the treasurer of WCR's Board of Directors, and owner of the New York City restaurant Dirt Candy, about Grubhub's newest project. She specifically extolled the virtues of the map highlighting restaurants.

"It's amazing when you can see the volume of women who are out there cooking and we don't know about them. Unless it's a celebrity chef, we often forget that there are real people behind those closed doors cooking your food," Cohen said. "The idea of the map really brings light to that fact."

"What Grubhub has been able to do for us [with the map] is pretty mind-blowing. I cannot tell you how many times I have put in different addresses and been like 'Oh! Look at all those women owning restaurants!'"

Cohen's goals for RestaurantHER and for WCR are that they inspire women to explore the restaurant world, and further their dreams of owning or heading a kitchen, even considering our current social climate.

"I hope that with all of this, this job does start looking appealing to more women," she explained. "When we see the sheer numbers of women who are cooking it does seem like less of a male-dominated world. It seems a lot more inviting, and the safer we make it and the more hospitable, the more women are going to want to join in, and that's just better for all of us."

In a press release for the initiative, Grubhub also explained that they would be highlighting stories from female chef ambassadors, including those from the woman-led New York restaurant Thaimee Table. Looking for more reasons to support female-led restaurants and food brands? Click here to read about the 11 most powerful women in food.