When I see talent and a bright future, I have to let them pursue their dreams.” It would be doing them a huge disservice. And when it comes time for employees to leave the nest, she says: “I’m a realist. Yin sees nurturing talent in the people who work for her as part of the job. “She’s my mentor, but she feels like my peer, too.” “Ellen understands that I need to find my path,” Caballero says. When Caballero moved on from her sous chef and sustainability manager position at Fork, she knew Yin “was always there to support me in any way I needed.” When she started Proyecto Tamal, her former boss was “immediately super supportive” and has continued to share business advice. Several Fork alumni - including pastry chef Sam Kincaid of Cadence, Klancy Miller of For the Culture magazine, and Ana Caballero who created COVID hospitality fundraiser Proyecto Tamal - have also started their own businesses. This year may seem like the hardest one yet to commit to a high personal and professional standard, but with her participation in the Sisterly Love Food Fair and a new organizing group of women restaurateurs called Let’s Talk Philly, Yin continues to lead the way in making Philly a better place for women in hospitality.Ī post shared by Ellen Yin opened nearly 25 years ago, but since then, many Philly women have started their own restaurants - from Marcie Turney and Valerie Safran’s strip of hip eateries on 13th Street to Nicole Marquis’ vegan destinations to Cristina Martinez’s celebrated Mexican establishments. When Yin and opening chef Anne-Marie Lasher started Fork, they decided to do the same. “She incorporated her personal values and beliefs into her business,” Yin says. Having worked at the White Dog Cafe and La Terrasse while in college at Penn, Yin also looked up to owner Judy Wicks. Kathleen Mulhern, of the Garden, Bernadette Foy of neighborhood mainstay Bridget Foy’s, and Janet Meeker, a longtime Philly and South Jersey restaurateur, also jumped in with guidance along the way. Helene Weinberg of Rose Tattoo Cafe helped with her business plan for Fork in Old City. When Ellen Yin made the jump from healthcare management into restaurant ownership in 1997, she turned to fellow women leaders in hospitality to learn the tricks of the trade.
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