Fast Forward: Women of Fast Casual

A passion for mentoring drives Cornbread's WILD certification

FastCasual and Messner Reeves are honoring fast casual brands dedicated to ensuring that women have a seat at the leadership table.

Adenah Bayoh (left) and her partner, Zadie B. Smith, founded Cornbread in 2017, a fast casual farm-to-table soul food restaurant.

March 4, 2021

After having success as a multi-unit IHOP owner in New Jersey, Adenah Bayoh and her partner, Zadie B. Smith, founded Cornbread in 2017, a fast casual farm-to-table soul food restaurant. Two years later and thanks to a partnership with Walmart, the women also have three locations inside Walmart stores in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

While they continue to strive for success, Bayoh and Smith also realize the importance of helping other women reach their full potential, which is why Cornbread recently earned FastCasual's Women in the Lead certification. It recognizes brands doing their best to ensure that women are fairly represented on their leadership teams.

"We do hire female and male employees; however, as two empowered women in today's society, we do influence and mentor other women to become female entrepreneurs as we are," Bayoh said.

Cornbread, which employs more women than men and has four women on its executive team, is one of four restaurant brands earning this quarter's honor, said FastCasual Editor Cherryh Cansler. The first class, which includes Noodles and Co., came out in December 2020.

"Last year and nearly 100 years after women earned the right to vote in the U.S., we joined forces with Messner Reeves to create WILD and are thrilled with the number of brands applying for certification," she said. "Every few months, we'll review nominations and induct new classes."

To earn WILD certification, brands must nominate themselves and prove that they are adhering to the following criteria.

Any restaurant brand meeting the following criteria is eligible to become WILD-certified:

Have at least one female on the C-level executive team.
Have a minimum ratio of 1:1 male-to-female employment.
Have women empowerment initiatives in place.

This is an ongoing certification program, so Interested brands may apply here by answering a few questions about their employees.

Meet the rest of WILD's second class below.

Salsa17
Arlington Height, Illinois based Salsa17 strives to have women in management positions, including in the kitchen.

"We also look to empower women, mainly servers, who have the potential to take on more roles within the company," said Lauren Huber, operations manager, who pointed out that three women who started in server / bartender positions are now responsible for management roles, scheduling, ordering, and invoice entries.

The Mexican restaurant also employs four women on its executive team.

Teriyaki Madness
With half of its executive team being made up by women, Teriyaki Madness is proud that it doesn't distinguish between men and women in regard to job or salary.

"We naturally include women at all levels of the company," saidAustin Erickson, development marketing coordinator. "The director level gender ratio also sits at nearly 50%. We lead a natural initiative every day that places women in positions of empowerment."

In the words of Teriyaki Madness Erin Hicks, "Chicks run this place." (Hicks is also a women.)

Flake Pie Co
Owned and operated by three female partners, Utah-based Flake Pie Co. specializes in individual pies. At least 75% of its workers are females, and its all-female executive team created each recipe.