The foodservice industry has traditionally been male-dominated, but experts say that having women on the team has practical benefits to the way a project is designed and planned.
“In many projects I’ve found it genuinely interesting to see that my – highly competent – male colleagues often approach planning challenges in a different way,” says Marlene Sommer FCSI, partner at DSC Consult in Germany and a specialist in inflight catering planning. “The contrast in perspectives can be very valuable, especially when it comes to shaping the direction early on,” she adds.
Many qualities associated with effective leadership or functioning workplaces – such as adaptability, multitasking and inclusivity – are qualities women consultants argue they frequently bring to the table.
“When a woman leads on the conception of a kitchen or the design of a restaurant, I think they are going to take more needs into account,” says Marta Cebrián López FCSI, executive director of MCL Food Consulting and vice president of FCSI Iberia. “They will take into account the needs of women and the needs of children, but also the needs of men.”
A boost to productivity
This goes for operations too. A report by Jorge Tamayo, assistant professor at Harvard Business School, looked at the management of a large Colombian fast-food chain, and concluded that women managers looked out for their employees more than men.
Women managers were also more likely to spend more time on scheduling and assigning workers their preferred shifts, which Tamayo said was consistent with female managers “being generally more aware of and responsive to workers’ scheduling constraints”.
“I can see very well that when you have a team with women, there is less ego and more kindness,” says López. “Maybe we’re going to pay more attention to who is working on what, if the hours allocated are correct, if we can optimize things here and there, because we are so used to doing that in our own daily life.“I think [women] do take the comfort of the team more into account.”
After following the running of 76 restaurants and analyzing personnel and productivity data, Tamayo’s study concluded that when women managed stores, those restaurants also performed better on their goals overall.
Claire Moss FCSI, director of UK consultancy Kre-ate, believes it is key to have a diverse team because the hospitality industry is “fundamentally people-focused.”
“Every project involves multiple stakeholders – users, operators, owners, suppliers – with their own priorities and perspectives,” says Moss. “Understanding these needs requires patience, active listening, and clear communication, regardless of gender.”
López shares an example from her own experience working as a chef in a Michelin-starred restaurant in Belgium, where the kitchen work surfaces were set to a height of around 90 centimeters.
“I’m not very tall – I measure one meter, 60 centimeters – and it meant that all the time that I was working there, I was on my tiptoes, and it wasn’t comfortable at all,” she says. “I think a woman designing a venue might well think, maybe we should have tables that are adjustable.”
Her conclusion is that a commercial kitchen is “really built for a man’s body shape, height and strength”.
The route to the result
A diverse team can also be more understanding of underrepresented communities. “A focus area for me is developing our collective skillset around hidden disabilities and cognitive or sensory differences,” says Moss. “These are often overlooked in commercial kitchens and hospitality design, yet they directly affect safety, efficiency, and experience for both operators and guests.”
“It’s not always easy to point to a single outcome and say, ‘This is the difference,’” says Sommer. “For me, it’s more about the route to the result than the result itself. Different ways of thinking and looking at a problem often improve the process.”
She adds that skills including empathy for group dynamics and an emphasis on interpersonal communication have proved helpful when teams are under pressure, or when decisions require “not just analysis but also good judgement about people and context”.
One study by the University of California and Copenhagen Business School listened to board members from more than 200 public companies in the US and Europe, and found that women come to meetings better prepared, more willing to ask in-depth questions and more open to different points of view.
It concluded that “the presence of women improves the quality of the discussion.”
“I see more women on calls with the design teams, even a few projects where the majority of the team leads are female, and it has had a different vibe to the project,” says FCSI Senior Associate Danielle Kunkel, director at Ricca Design Studios in Denver, Colorado, US.
However, the 2024 State of Gender Equality in the Travel and Hospitality Industry report found that 63% of female respondents believe they must work harder for recognition because of their gender.
“Last year, I was on an MEP coordination call where I had a male engineer explain to me what the purpose of a floor sink was, and I had to politely let him know that I knew the purpose, especially being that I had done the plumbing rough-in plan and placed the floor sinks myself,” added Kunkel.
“If a newer female consultant gets on a call or to a jobsite where it is all men, it can be intimidating. I’ve been in that position and have had to prove that I know what I’m talking about and that I belong at the table.”
The old saying ‘If you can see it, you can be it’ springs to mind. “Having more women on projects, whether we realize it in the moment or not, is inspiring younger women in the field to do what we do,” she says.
Informed by lived experience
There is a consensus that personal experiences have made women better at balancing different demands.
“Growing my career alongside raising my child as a single parent has underscored the value of adaptability, flexibility, and long-term perspective,” says Moss. “My lived experience trained me to think constantly about time, safety, ease of use, and what happens when things go wrong and there’s no extra help available.
“While gender doesn’t dictate my design priorities, my life and professional experiences shape how I approach problem-solving, collaboration, and achieving balanced, thoughtful outcomes,” adds Moss.
According to the US-based Foodservice Women’s Alliance, foodservice companies with diverse management are 70% more likely to capture new markets and post on average 25% higher growth.
Despite this, women remain underrepresented in decision-making roles in the foodservice industry. “In my team, around 98% of colleagues are men, so at the moment it doesn’t look like the female share will increase quickly,” says Sommer.
“That said, I do believe change is possible – especially as more women discover how varied, dynamic and rewarding this role can be.”
Helen Roxburgh
