LET’S TALK IS A COLLABORATION OF WOMEN RESTAURATEURS TO BUILD COMBINED ECONOMIC POWER. IT IS NOT AN ORGANIZATION, IT IS NOT AN ENTITY, IT IS AN ACTION-LED MOVEMENT BY WOMEN BUSINESS OWNERS AS PEERS.
- Let’s Talk is a collaboration of women restaurateurs working together as peers to build economic power. It is not an organization or entity, but an action movement led by women business owners.
- Started as a conversation forum for cohesion and to share resources, Let’s Talk has rapidly evolved to help women entrepreneurs combine their bargaining power, visibility, voice and undertake joint economic and political action.
- Let’s Talk now includes over 400 food and beverage women entrepreneurs across 12 cities (Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Lexington, Louisville, Cincinnati, San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix, Boston, NYC, Miami, and Seattle) and launched the women’s forums of LA (Re:Her) and Washington, DC (Women in Food).
- Each Let's Talk city forum is cohosted, nourished and led by 2-4 leading restaurateurs. Everything we do is out-of-hide and voluntary to build each other up. Because we have no institutional overhead, all support flows directly to our women entrepreneurs.
- On-the-ground city and national initiatives include Women’s Restaurant Weeks, collaborative tasting menus, food fairs, farmers markets, meal kits, and gift baskets. In addition, members have pooled forces to apply for grants, meet with governors and city officials, and panels to showcase the Let’s Talk model of positive action-oriented collaboration.
- We are tired of being inundated with training, manuals, guidelines and webinars. Our needs are business building visibility and funding to scale.
- We deliberately avoid lofty mission statements, statement of values or five-year plans. The universe abounds with these well-meaning, ambiguous, unaccountable articulations.
- We welcome all women owned entrepreneurs in food and drink regardless of race, format, size, stripe, color, orientation, or identity. We are all peers. We are in NRN Power List 2021 Top 50 for inclusive impactful leadership, alongside giants of our industry.
- Let’s Talk was founded in July 2020 and is led by Rohini Dey, Ph.D., a Chicago restaurateur (Vermilion), former trustee and founder/chair of the James Beard Foundation Women's Leadership Program, former McKinsey & Co. consultant and World Bank economist.
Let’s Talk Women
Picnic in White
Preorders have ended, but come on over to buy on site!
Sunday July 11th 12-3pm. Millennium Park
Closing event for Taste of Chicago To-Go
Join thousands of guests dressed in breezy summer whites for a picnic hosted by the City of Chicago and Let’s Talk Womxn on the lawn of the iconic Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. Apart from gourmet fare and cocktails, this closing event for Taste of Chicago To-Go includes entertainment by women performers on stage, a power-women soundtrack, interviews with women restaurateurs, and speakers. Guests are encouraged to dress in white in solidarity with inclusive and diverse women power. Join us to make this the biggest annual women power celebration in Chicago. We invite everyone regardless of gender to bring their families and friends to this festivity around summer, dining out, and coming together as a city.
Guests should pre-order a picnic lunch and optional cocktails, alternatively there will be limited offerings on site. Each gourmet picnic bag includes a delicious grain salad, dips and crisps, the main course, and two desserts with varied curations by top female restaurateurs and chefs across the city including: Vermilion, Saigon Sisters, Paramount Group/Eden, Demera, Frontera, Bistronomic, The Dandy Crown, Antique Taco, Savory Crust, TeaGeschwendner, No Bones Beach Club, La Luna, Teertsemasesottehg, Justice of the Pies, and Pretty Cool Ice Cream.
Let’s Talk Womxn Chicago is thankful to United Airlines and Sysco as Champions for this event and to Uber Eats for sponsoring the technology. This event is presented by Let’s Talk Womxn and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE).
Preorders have ended, but come on over to buy on site!
Picnic in White with Let’s Talk Womxn Atlanta
Celebrate an afternoon of food, drink and music created by womxn at Floataway Cafe. Dress in white in solidarity with inclusivity and diverse womxns’ power. With fare from: Floataway Cafe, Twisted Soul Cookhouse & Pours, Bella Cucina, Bhojanic, El Ponce, Beautiful Briny Sea, Chef Mallory deGollian, Sasser Culinary Insights, Chinese Southern Belle, Edible Endeavors, 3 Parks Wine, Red’s Beer Garden and more. Live music set by Lola Cole Music and DJ Hourglass. General Admission tickets $45. VIP ticket $75.
Let’s Talk Womxn Philadelphia Picnic & Happy Hours
Let’s Talk Womxn PHL kicks off the summer season with an abundant picnic spread for pick-up Sunday, July 11th. Enjoy a curated picnic at one of Philadelphia’s amazing public spaces or on your deck at home. Each basket is $75 for two good eaters and includes salads, sandwiches, cheese and desserts. To order a basket for July 11th, click here. Deadline for orders is Thursday, July 8th. Our picnic also kicks off our series of collaborative Sisterly Love Happy Hours every other Wednesday at women-owned bars throughout the city starting 7/14 including: Triple Bottom Brewing (Spring Garden), Sor Ynez (Kensington) , a.bar (Rittenhouse), and Jezabel’s (West Philadelphia). Sponsored by Diageo, each happy hour features cocktails, wine and beer specials, accompanied by snacks.
Let’s Talk Women Chicago
Supper Club
ORDER BY AUGUST 24TH
HOSTED AT VERMILION. THE LAST FRIDAY OF EVERY MONTH.
Five incredible women. Five incredible courses. One incredible cause.
Limited In Person Tickets with Panel & Conversation. Or Takeout.
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City Cohosts
Mary Aregoni
Chicago
Rohini Dey
Chicago
Anne Quatrano
Atlanta
Deborah VanTrece
Atlanta
Rosa Thurnher
Atlanta
Jen Ziskin
Boston
Tracy Chang
Boston
Carla Chalkley
Cincinnati
Julia Petiprin
Cincinnati
Lara Swan
Lexington, Louisville
Ouita Michel
Lexington, LouisvilleScroll To Top
Bridget Foy
Philadelphia
Ellen Yin
Philadelphia
Jennifer Carroll
PhiladelphiaLatest News
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Reach out to Let's Talk Womxn. If you are a woman business owner in food and drink in a city we're in and would like to join us. Our forum is open to all and we'd love to have you. Or if you're a corporation who would like to work with us. We're open to all help. Or media who would like to feature us. Share our collaboration.
