FAB TALKS
FAB Women in the spotlight
An impressive quartet of female leaders took to the stage at the FAB + Hospitality Conference to celebrate women in F&B. The FAB Women session addressed the challenges they have faced and encouragement they have received along their career journeys.
Panellists included chef and MasterChef Australia 2017 winner Diana Chan; Dufry (now Avolta) President and CEO Asia Pacific Freda Cheung; Lagardère Travel Retail Executive Vice President Foodservice Global Mélanie Guilldou; and COCA & Mango Tree Restaurants Worldwide Chief Operations Officer Natalie Phanphensophon.
The panel was moderated by The Moodie Davitt Report FAB Editor-in-Chief Elişa Roche. A former Michelin-level chef and Editorial Food Director for global consumer magazines, Roche’s early career saw her working in almost exclusively male-dominated environments.
Leading off the session, Roche was keen to point out that it would be one of open discussion and the purpose was not to “man bash”. Instead, she was keen to find out how travel retail companies ensure that their hiring policies are fair and how they maintain a level playing field with equal opportunities for all employees.
The FAB Women panellists (left to right): Mélanie Guilldou; Natalie Phanphensophon; Elişa Roche; Freda Cheung and Diana Chan
Most of the panellists insisted that they had been lucky enough never to have encountered sexism or lack of opportunity for growth and career advancement. They also explained how they strive to continue this legacy in their current positions.
Guilldou underlined the importance of diversity in the workplace. She said: “As an organisation, we reflect the customers that we serve so having that diversity in the workforce is absolutely crucial.” She added that she didn’t really like to draw comparisons between men and women and simply saw that the workplace can be better as a whole with a more diverse array of people, and that “we are richer and smarter all together”. She explained that her management style was to be “as close as possible” to her teams.
Cheung shared that Dufry/Avolta’s Global Diversity & Inclusion Committee regularly convenes to address key issues such as career advancement for women in the workplace.
She explained: “The topic that we address is what are the unintended barriers that keep women away from accessing advanced opportunities. I personally believe that advancement opportunities are equal for everyone – man or woman, it doesn’t matter. But there are certain underlying assumptions that maybe were made of expectation and that have kept women away.”
The picture was different for those having worked in kitchens. Roche spoke of the sexism she had encountered as a young female chef, although she admitted things had “dramatically improved of late”, noting that she had seen far greater diversity in the restaurant industry when she returned to cook part-time in recent years.
Chan, who has been successful in her craft despite the male-dominated nature of the culinary industry, admitted that she “had faced discrimination” and had to take a tough stance early on to make sure she was treated fairly. “I knew very early on that if I didn’t put my foot down I was never going to be heard or I was just going to be walked over,” she said. “So I did and that gave me the confidence.”
Running a generations-long family business previously led by her father, Phanphensophon knew that she had big shoes to fill but found she was always able to be herself. “Hospitality is quite a delicate job so it needs a lot of patience whether you’re male or female. But we need females – nothing gets done without them,” she said, as the audience clapped and nodded in agreement.
“Hospitality needs a lot of patience whether you’re male or female. But we need females – nothing gets done without them”
COCA & Mango Tree Restaurants Worldwide COO Natalie Phanphensophon
Cheung – who is the only daughter in her family and started her career in the tech industry, where the workplace ratio was 10:1 male to female – stressed that we can all change things for the better by assessing how we treat young people. “How we are brought up shapes our world view,” she said. “I grew up in an environment where my capability was never defined by my gender and so that’s how I went out into the world.”
FAB eZine
January 2024
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