Women in the Boardroom

WBC is partnerning with Grubhub for their Restaurant HER initiative — in celebration of Women's History Month and amidst the pandemic, women owned businesses and restaurants need to flourish more than ever.

CHICAGO, March 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — In recognition of Women's History Month, Grubhub is strengthening and expanding its commitment to grow the number of women-led restaurants, especially those impacted by COVID. It was four years ago with the creation of RestaurantHER that Grubhub first started using its technology platform to drive change and respond to the issues facing women in the restaurant industry. The company pledged to champion and support women-led restaurants, raise awareness about inequality in the industry and help improve things for the better.

As Grubhub kicks off its fourth year of RestaurantHER, we're working with World Central Kitchen (WCK) and the Women Business Collaborative (WBC) to support and help amplify our ongoing efforts for women in the culinary industry.

RestaurantHER comes this year as women have lost the most jobs during the pandemic. In January 2021, women were still down 5.4 million jobs, which makes up 55 percent of total jobs lost. The restaurant industry was among those most impacted by COVID, and a majority of the workforce are women. Before COVID, female restaurant workers (especially owners and chefs) struggled to grow due to lack of sponsorship, funding and even workplace harassment. As a result, there are fewer women at the leadership level in restaurants. And now those numbers are dwindling even further.

"We are hopeful that across the country, RestaurantHER will spark a movement of support for women-owned and operated restaurants," said Devry Boughner Vorwerk, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Grubhub. "Women restaurateurs are highly capable business leaders in the industry, and they often face barriers that their male counterparts do not. This month, and every month, at Grubhub, we want to shine a light on women-led restaurants and all the benefits these women bring to their communities through their dedication, their creativity and their cuisine."

Since Grubhub began the RestaurantHER initiative in 2018, we've seen talented and aspiring chefs who have been able to succeed in part because of the resources and programs of RestaurantHER. Our incredible partners and diners have played a significant role in helping Grubhub work toward change. We worked with organizations such as the James Beard Foundation and Women Chefs & Restaurateurs to provide grants and tools for female chefs and culinary leaders to navigate and address the specific challenges they face in the industry. Additionally, Grubhub created a RestaurantHER map where diners can find a women-led restaurant near them.

To continue our efforts, Grubhub is supporting World Central Kitchen's Restaurants for the People program and specifically restaurants that are women-owned and operated. Grubhub will support these efforts through the Donate the Change program during Women's History Month, where diners are invited to join us in helping these women. Grubhub's Donate the Change feature allows diners who opt-in to round up their change on every order. All proceeds will go to World Central Kitchen to provide nourishing meals to help vulnerable communities impacted by the pandemic. Last year, Grubhub diners across the country generously donated a total of $21 million to support various organizations and communities in need through Donate the Change.

"We are grateful for Grubhub's support and belief in our mission, and recognition that restaurants are a key part of the solution to the ongoing health, economic, and humanitarian crises. Their support will specifically help women-owned and operated restaurants that are a part of our Restaurants for the People program, which pays restaurants directly to help keep their business afloat while also providing tens of thousands of meals to people in need," said Erin Gore, Vice President of Development at World Central Kitchen.

Grubhub is also excited to kick off a partnership with the Women Business Collaborative, an alliance of more than 44 women business organizations and thousands of individuals who are committed to gender equality in the workplace. Together, we'll raise awareness and encourage Americans to support local women-owned restaurants throughout the month of March and throughout the year. We'll also form an advisory board in 2021 composed of female restaurant owners to discuss issues in the industry and ways Grubhub and others can help.

"The time is now for all of us to commit to order from women-owned restaurants and tell the stories of our support in every community across this nation. We are devoted to this effort with RestaurantHER and Grubhub," added Edie Fraser, CEO of Women Business Collaborative.

World Central Kitchen will also be Grubhub's donation partner for our popular virtual concert series Sound Bites, which will feature performances by Megan Thee Stallion, Noah Cyrus and King Princess. Fans tuning in will be encouraged to scan customized QR codes that will pop up throughout the show to receive special discounts and Perks, along with exclusive behind-the-scenes footage from King Princess. For every QR code scanned at one point during the live stream, Grubhub will donate $1 (up to $100,000) to World Central Kitchen. The free Sound Bites concert will take place on Friday, March 26 at 7 p.m. ET on the Grubhub YouTube channel.

Grubhub's commitment to support women in the restaurant industry will continue as long as it takes to see equality, and we hope our community of diners will join us by supporting female chefs and owners, and their delicious culinary creations, year-round. Visit the Grubhub app, Grubhub.com or RestaurantHER.com to find a women-led restaurant near you.

See the press release on Grubhub's website

About Grubhub
Grubhub (NYSE: GRUB) is a leading online and mobile food-ordering and delivery marketplace with the largest and most comprehensive network of restaurant partners, as well as over 31 million active diners. Dedicated to connecting diners with the food they love from their favorite local restaurants, Grubhub elevates food ordering through innovative restaurant technology, easy-to-use platforms and an improved delivery experience. Grubhub features over 300,000 restaurants and is proud to partner with over 265,000 of these restaurants in over 4,000 U.S. cities. The Grubhub portfolio of brands includes Grubhub, Seamless, LevelUp, AllMenus and MenuPages.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — WBC Women Joining Public Boards November Monthly Report, empowered by Equilar, clearly demonstrates the call for diversity is being heard by public companies. In November 2020, public companies appointed women to fill 112 seats, or 42% of the 266 overall appointments including 33 women who identified as women of color. Black women comprised 72.7% of those women. The 42% figure marks a rising trend for appointments and is up from the newsworthy 40.9% in October. November and October data show a doubling of women from a year ago and clearly women of color making huge gains.

The Women Joining Public Boards report shows the numbers, rates and profiles of women appointed to public boards with a focus on diversity and analyzes the industry sectors where women are participating on boards. Edie Fraser, CEO of WBC remarks, "We share this monthly report showing not only the numbers increase—doubling since 2019– but naming the companies and sharing the profiles."

112 women were named to public boards in November, 42% of board seats. Of the appointments, 56 of those were first time appointments. It's worth noting that this good news means more women are being appointed to the highest levels of public companies.

In November, 33 women identified as women of color, 72.7% of those being black women. This is a critical measure as diversity is at the forefront of business leadership and business practices in 2020. And progress is accelerating.

Healthcare companies continue to lead the way in appointing women closely followed by the companies in the technology and industrials sectors. The financial services industry is seeing an uptick in board appointments who are women including at Visa and Fidelity. The energy sector is showing growth too and appointed 7 women, including two at Oasis Petroleum.

The November 2020 report continues WBC's deep dive into the compilation and analysis of comprehensive data for women joining boards of public companies. The Women Business Collaborative (WBC), an alliance of 43+ women business organizations and many stakeholders representing tens of thousands of diverse professional men and women, collaborating together to achieve equal position, pay and power for all business women) is partnering with Equilar, the leader in corporate data, to produce this monthly report and drive our dashboard of data and women CEOs.

The rise in appointments is accompanied by calls from groups such as NASDAQ who want to require the more than 3,000 companies listed on its stock exchange to improve boardroom diversity by appointing at least one woman and at least one minority or LGBTQ+ person to their boards. NASDAQ said its decision is based on the significant link found between diverse boards and better corporate governance and financial performance. The Latino Corporate Directors Association, a member of the WBC Women on Boards Initiative, calls for many more Latinos on boards.

SOURCE Women Business Collaborative