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Two out of three women aspire to advance to senior management in the foodservice industry.
Women in foodservice are more likely to break the glass ceiling than their counterparts in other industries.
"Lack of mentoring" is one of the top barriers to the advancement of women in the foodservice industry.
Strong statements such as those are among key findings that have come out of research commissioned by the Women's Foodservice Forum in its effort to know and understand women's stature in the industry.
"We don't do research just for the sake of doing research," says Mary Bentley, General Mills vice president, In-Store Bakery, Foodservice division, who was loaned to the WFF to assure duties as vice president of strategic development and acting executive director. "We do research to learn how we can best influence the industry, and much of our research has led to programs that we now have in place."
She cited the WFF's "10 Core Competencies," ranging from taking initiative and risks to being tough-minded and helping others develop as well as the group's multiphased mentor programs as being the direct result of WPF research, which revealed early on that "lack of mentoring" was among the barriers women face in the foodservice industry.
"We had to learn first where women were in the industry in order to proceed with our vision and mission," Bentley says.
Research has been key in the WFF's efforts to help women move up the executive ranks in the foodservice industry.
"Our research has really helped drive the content of what our leadership training needs to be," says Alice Wheelwright, chair-elect for the WFF. "The research has built upon itself over the years to paint the mosaic of skills and talent we need to help women develop. We're trying to understand what issues women face in this industry."
The WFF has commissioned three primary studies, the latest of which is the "Best Practices Benchmarking Study," which was done in 2002. Although the WFF is still in the process of digesting the study, the preliminary findings are revealing.
For the "Benchmarking" study, the WFF surveyed the top 100 foodservice operators and manufacturers and the top 50 distributors in the U.S. foodservice market in late 2001 and early 2002. The longitudinal...