In an effort to better support women in the restaurant industry, Grubhub is launching a new $1 million fund that aims to incentivize diners to frequent women-led restaurants across the country.
Grubhub, the Chicago-based food-ordering and delivery company, announced the initiative Monday. Dubbed RestaurantHER, the program commits Grubhub to contributing $1 up to $1 million for every person who pledges to dine in or order delivery from a woman-led restaurant now through the end of March. Participants can make pledges at RestaurantHER.com.
“One reason we’re launching RestaurantHER is because there is a huge missed opportunity in the restaurant industry by not having more gender balanced kitchens,” said Gruhbhub CEO Matt Maloney in a statement to Chicago Inno. “The initiative introduces new creativity and expertise into restaurants across the country.”
According to data from Grubhub, women occupy less than 20 percent of chef positions in the U.S. To help diners find restaurants that are owned or co-owned by women, or have a kitchen that’s run by one, Grubhub has developed a nationwide map that identifies them. Diners will also have the option to add restaurants to the map as long as they meet the criteria.
The first $100,000 from Grubhub’s pledge will be given to Women Chefs & Restaurateurs, a national culinary organization in Alexandria, Va. The contribution will help fund a scholarship program for women in the culinary industry and the development of a digital toolkit to help restaurateurs build strong leadership teams that can address issues of gender in the kitchen.
“We’ve always believed it doesn’t have to be hard to run a fair and equitable kitchen,” said Amanda Cohen, treasurer of WCR, in a statement. “This partnership puts us in a position where we can provide the tools, not just to women, but to all chefs and owners who have long wanted to do things differently but didn’t know where to start.”
Grubhub offers services from more than 80,000 restaurants in over 1,600 U.S. cities and London, and has acquired competitors such as Seamless, Eat24, AllMenus and MenuPages.
