March is Women’s History Month — and while we think women deserve to be celebrated all year long (naturally!) — we’ll take any extra opportunity to shine a spotlight on inspiring women leading the way at restaurants on DoorDash.
Heena Patel, Owner and Executive Chef, Besharam
Why did you start Besharam?
I didn’t imagine that I will have a restaurant. Nobody in my family has one. I feel like Gujarati women are raised to cook excellent food for their family but never train professionally. My grandmother or my mother always said, “I wish I would’ve done this. I wish I would’ve done that.” I heard that so many times growing up. For me, I want to do whatever I feel like doing. I strive for that. I didn’t stay home. I went outside. This opportunity was not given to me. I worked for it.
Zeni Gebremariam, Chef and Co-owner, Zeni Ethiopian
What’s it like for you to run a business?
A restaurant needs attention 24/7. So I’m always there and I couldn’t go out. The challenge is, you have to wake up at 6 in the morning, and 6 until midnight, you have to be there cooking and serving and everything. Before, when my husband was here, he helped me a lot. But now, by myself, I do everything. If you have a passion, it doesn’t matter that I have worked by myself for 19 years. After 19 years, I have all my customers telling me, “This is the most authentic Ethiopian restaurant. Keep it up.” When I hear that, I am very proud. That’s why I’m here 6 to 12, because the customer feedback motivates me.
Dilsa Lugo, Chef and Owner, Los Cilantros, Berkeley, CA
How did you start Los Cilantros?
We started from zero. We didn’t have tables and we didn’t have a lot of money to invest. We called family and friends to borrow some money. We decided to start with nice food, very nice service, and with all this energy. I think you can come here and find things that you don’t find in a lot of restaurants, like tlacoyitos. I really like when I talk to the customers and I go, “How was everything?” And they are always saying, “These tlacoyitos with epazote remind me of a small plate in my grandma’s kitchen.” So those things are what I think are really special, and make us feel that we are doing the right thing.
Guisell Osorio, Chef and Owner, Sabores Del Sur, Walnut Creek, CA
What makes you most proud?
The way we have grown. That we’re all growing together. My employees didn’t drive before and now they’re driving. They didn’t cook; now they’re cooking. They didn’t speak English; now they speak English. They learn what I do and by learning that, their lives have changed. They do better in life and I’m part of that.
Thassanee Ruthaiwat, Owner and Executive Chef, Sweet Lime Thai Cuisine, San Francisco
How has doing things on your own helped you be stronger?
You have to make sure all the problems are small. No matter how big the problem is you tell yourself, “The problem I’m seeing is a lot but small.” Right? That way I can keep going every day. Make sure you’re happy and staying in the present and what you do is you focus. Even if you’re not happy, you just pick the positive part.
Ketrin Ofilada, Executive Manager and Maurien Coleone, Chef, Brazilian Plate House
What does the American dream mean to you?
In Brazil, we heard a lot about American dreams. The United States really sells the American dream to the entire world through the movies. I graduated in Brazil in international business. But my English was so bad, it was horrible. I decided that was time for me to move and learn the language and what better place than here, right? When you come here, you see what a great country that it is. If you really put yourself into something, you really work hard, you really have what you came here to look for.
Felippa Janik, Co-owner and Chef, Janik’s Cafe
Do you feel like you’ve been successful?
Yes. Some people believe that, “Hey, why don’t you open another restaurant?” I said, “I’m happy with this.” I am helping my family in Venezuela. I’m able to put food on the table for them because they’re struggling right now in Venezuela. I have been able to bring some of my nephews here, they’re going to college. I have given them the opportunity to do the same thing that I’m doing. So I think, yes, I feel very successful.
Monica Wong, CEO and Quynh Nguyen, Executive Chef, Little Green Cyclo
Why did you start Little Green Cyclo?
We wanted to bring Vietnamese food to the Bay Area, but have it be very responsibly sourced. So from the very beginning, we were serving chicken from Mary’s farm, Jidori chicken, Berkshire pork, and also Wagyu beef. We also wanted to serve something that we would be proud of; something that we would want to serve our family and our friends.
Dr. Padmini Aniyan, Co-owner, Mayura Indian Cuisine
What was your path to opening this restaurant?
I used to be a professor in India in business management, accounting and business management, but I did my PhD in marketing. The whole family has a passion for food, because we grew up in the food business there. We migrated to the United States in 2003. Everybody is familiar with the food business, but I am not good at cooking, but I am good at managing. My husband knows all the operations. My sister is an excellent chef. So instead of looking for another job outside, we decided to go into business. There is no other Kerala restaurant in Southern California. We wanted to bring our tradition because Los Angeles is multicultural.
Sam Rattanopas, Co-owner, NaKorn
Why the restaurant business?
I actually never dreamed that I would open one. I took two years off and I’m just like, “I think I want to have a restaurant.” This is what I’m good at. This is what I want to do. I decided I wanted to do Thai to represent my heritage, my country. I feel bad that people always think that Thai food is just cheap. I want people to be like, “Let’s go to Nakorn. Let’s go eat food there because they have good food,” or “I want to bring my date here because the restaurant is pretty.”
Celebrating Women’s History Month was originally published in DoorDash on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.