Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Food and Wine
On Monday 21st October, as part of the inaugural Eat Well, Do Good festival, the Eat Well MCR team was honoured to facilitate a panel discussion on equality, diversity and inclusion in the hospitality industry. Sponsored by Hallgarten and taking place at Dakota Hotel in Manchester, the forum was a fantastic chance to bring together some fantastic minds from to discuss how to improve the experience of underrepresented genders across the industry.
Why did Eat Well MCR do this event?
Eat Well MCR differs from the many other fantastic food re-distribution organisations in Manchester and beyond, in that we work in tandem with the hospitality industry—you can read more about who we are and what we do here.
As an organisation and individuals, we are invested in making the hospitality a healthy, thriving industry. The collective of chefs and restaurants who have worked for us are testament to the incredible skill and generosity to be found in the industry.
But there’s work to be done. As an all-female team, we have first-hand experience of the challenges facing women in hospitality and leadership roles. During research for the panel discussion, we discovered some shocking statistics:
Although women represent 60% of the workforce in hospitality, travel, and leisure, they only hold 10% of executive committee roles.
women in service industries (including hospitality) face disproportionately higher rates of discrimination and sexual harassment.
We also discovered recurring issues, all of which we wanted to put to our expert panel:
Common Issues for Women in Hospitality
Pay Disparity: Women and minorities earn less than their male counterparts, with wage gaps often exacerbated by underrepresentation in higher-paying, senior positions.
Underrepresentation in Leadership: Despite women comprising a large portion of the hospitality workforce, leadership roles are predominantly filled by men.
Sexual Harassment: Many reports mention that women in hospitality, particularly those in customer-facing roles, are more likely to experience harassment.
Barriers to Advancement: The hospitality industry has a well-documented “glass ceiling” for women and minorities, with cultural norms, lack of mentorship, and the “boys’ club” culture acting as significant barriers.
The Panellists for our ‘Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in Food & Wine’ Forum
Alex Oakshott - Hallgarten & Novum Wines
Alex has worked with Hallgarten & Novum Wines for 13 years and is chair of the ED&I team. Established in January 2022, the team has carried out a range of initiatives with the aim of increasing diversity in the wine trade.
Daneche Ballintine
Daneche is a born-and-bred Mancunian with 16 years of hospitality experience, working at various venues including Tattu and Manchester City Football Club.
Georgie Hewitt - Where the Light Gets In
Georgie is a chef at Green-Michelin-starred Where the Light Gets In. She has been working her way through the Manchester food scene for 13 years, and has a strong interest in, and admiration for, forward-thinking sustainability and horticulture, believing this to be the new generation of culinary culture.
Jo Ahearne - Boutinot Wines
Jo is a Master of Wine and works as a wine consultant. Since 2014 she has also been making her own wine on the Dalmatian island of Hvar in Croatia.
Kathleen O’Connor (host) - Eat Well MCR
Kathleen is co-director of Eat Well MCR and a strategic marketing consultant. She is the driving force behind Eat Well MCR’s marketing and comms strategy.
Mary-Ellen McTague - Eat Well MCR
Mary-Ellen McTague is one of Manchester’s most sought after chefs, and started Eat Well MCR in early 2020, at the start of the Covid pandemic.
The Discussion
The following is a redacted version of the panel discussion. To join events like this in the future, check out our What’s On page and sign up to our newsletter to be the first to know what’s coming up.
“Hospitality is like a microcosm of the world. You find every walk of life working in this industry.”
Diversity and Inclusion in Hospitality
AO: My experience of the wine trade is that there's lack of female leadership, positions for us to work towards, and female representation for us to feel supported by. The less representation there is, the fewer people are attracted to the industry, and in turn, climb to leadership positions.
GH: If you think of all the chefs throughout history, all men, pretty much. I think it's a lot harder for women to be taken seriously. When I was a young chef at 16, I was terrified of everyone. Confidence to put in boundaries comes with experience, but it'd be nice to be able to see younger female chefs not have to experience that.
Initiatives and Strategies for Promoting Diversity
JA: Queena Wong does a lot of work actively seeking out ways to mentor people and start conversations around inclusion in the industry.
I think that thing that everybody has to say, enough is enough, this is a toxic environment, and it shouldn't exist. And we need to support the young people coming through so we don't have to do that. They don't have to do what we did.
DJ: It's really hard not to lose yourself in hospitality. I grew up in working class family and despite working in the industry for 16 years, still felt I wasn’t good enough to be there. I did my WSET Level 3 with Be Inclusive Hospitality, and that's helped me be able to communicate with people without losing myself, and eliminate those class boundaries.
AO: The ED&I team at Hallgarten—it’s just 10 of us, and none of us have loads of experience in this area, but we’ve just been thinking about initiatives, and what we want to do. At roots level, hospitality is incredibly diverse—less so at the higher levels. But in the wine industry, we don't have the same levels of diversity, so it's about trying to attract people, provide the career progression, and iron out the class divide. We’re a few steps behind the rest of the hospitality industry. Wine is still seen as middle class. Twenty years ago, it wasn’t something that everybody drank. I work with a lot of people who do business in the old school way—on the golf course, at the races. So it’s hard to open it up to new audiences. Hopefully that’s changing.
“I definitely feel like I’ve got a voice now, and I’m not scared to use it.”
Challenges for Women in the Industry
AO: I’ve had two babies, had two lots of maternity leave. Hallgarten have been really supportive and listened to what I need. But it’s a really difficult subject. For a couple of years after having children, my career wasn’t my focus. But that’s how you get into leadership positions.
GH: From a Back of House perspective, we do find that women drop out very early in the industry to be able to have children, and from my knowledge, not a lot are coming back. Because it's not something you could balance.
MM: I stopped working when I was 38 weeks pregnant, so two weeks before I was due, and then I took six months off. For my second child, I had my own restaurant, so I stopped working the day before I went into labor, and then I was back at work. I was back doing work about six hours after he was born, which is completely not ideal. It's terrible. I was at home with him. I wasn't in the kitchen with him in the back or anything. But I would never, ever, ever let an employee do that. It’s madness. But it was just because we ran a tiny business and it relied on me being there. I don't recommend.
Sustainability and Inclusion in Hospitality
DJ: I think we’ve got a long way to go. I know people are trying, and there are incentives, but it shouldn’t take an individual in a huge company to realise change or make it a priority.
JA: Going back to that perspective of questioning our own bias, people expect women to be nurturing. And that doesn’t fit with a career. There’s an assumption that if you don't have children you’re a career woman, whatever that's supposed to mean. So I think we need to change that perception.
GH: Working with different organisations that champion sustainability, one of the biggest things that I’ve noticed is that women play a massive part. And I think that corresponds with attitudes in the kitchen. The chefs that I work with—we’re all championing the same kind of ethos, so it doesn’t leave room for the boys’ club atmosphere and toxicity and abuse.
From a back of house perspective, I have seen a little bit of change within the industry. When I was 16, it was brutal, to say the least, with the things I had to deal with in kitchens. I remember once a male chef hit me over the head with a pan. And when I said I was reporting it, I was told by all the other chefs in there that I was on my own. But after COVID, everyone became more of a family and realised that there needs to be a shift.
JA: I don't have any data to back it up, but I do notice that if ever I go to a natural wine fair, there is a much more diverse audience there, by far, compared to a conventional wine tasting environment. And I think there's something to that—if people actively care about the environment, then I think maybe they're just naturally more caring in general.
Ko’C: It has to be a top down cultural shift. And I think I would like to see more men having these discussions.
DJ: I don't think that boys clubs are necessarily a problem. I do think that there needs to be more girls clubs, especially in hospitality.
AO: I want to see more women in leadership positions. That's the aspiration, isn't it? And more white, male CEOs at these conversations.
JA: Because men are in predominantly in positions of power, it’s down to them to have a conversation with themself and recognise their own bias. But humanity as as a whole needs to take this on board.
MM: Do you feel confident encouraging more women or more people from diverse backgrounds grounds into the space you work in?
DJ: I feel conflicted. I come across some incredible CV’s, and I want to hire them, but you know you're bringing them into potentially a very toxic environment. I don't know what the answer is. I know it's best not to project how I feel about the space onto somebody else, but I can be there as a support, and also, there's power in numbers. So just to have more females on the team is always going to be beneficial.
“When you’re out on the front line and you see the work you do, you can tell Eat Well MCR a female-led organisation. It’s amazing.”
It felt great to hear Daneche say she could tell Eat Well MCR is a female-led organisation. We’re proud to be women working in, alongside and for hospitality, and we’re committed to improving the industry for all.
We had intended for this forum to include under-represented genders, but on this occasion couldn’t find any non-binary participants. If you feel under-represented in the industry and would like to be involved with future Eat Well MCR events, please do reach out at hello@eatwellmcr.org
Thank you to our panellists, to Hallgarten Wines for sponsoring this event, and to Dakota Hotels for hosting us.
Images by Nathan Whittaker.
Sources:
Cultural and Gender Diversity in the Hospitality Industry: Is it a Prime Concern? (European Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, 2022)
McKinsey & Company’s 2022 Women in the Workplace Report
Women in Hospitality, Travel, and Leisure 2020 Review (British Hospitality Association and PwC)