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Women pave the way in growing hospitality industry
Women + Wine
Katie Rice & Sarah Pierre
Rice owns VinoTeca in Inman Park
and Pierre owns 3 Parks Wine Shop in
Clenwood Park..
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It’s 2021 and you can plan an entire
weekend visiting restaurants, bars, and
retail stores in Atlanta that are owned by
women. A femme filled weekend like that
would have been hard to come by 30 years
ago, so we thought we would catch up with
restaurateur/chef Anne Quatrano and wine
broker Lisa Bonet to discuss their journey
in what was once a male-dominated
industry. These ladies paved the way for our
success, and we wanted to get their take on
the changing landscape.
We asked Chef Anne how Atlanta’s
dining scene has changed since 1993 when
she opened her first restaurant, Bacchanalia,
originally located in Buckhead. We couldn’t
agree more with her response. “The
dining scene has changed immensely since
1993— all for the good in my opinion.
Large restaurant groups and hotel dining
dominated the food scene back then with
very few, if any, chef owned and operated
businesses. It was almost impossible to
break into the industry without a big
budget and a flashy space. Now, today, if
you prepare great food and are friendly you
can serve food from a van and be a popular
and busy restaurant.”
Quatrano now owns 3 restaurants
as well as Star Provisions Market and
Cafe. Not only do her restaurants serve
impeccable food day in and day out, the
service in each establishment has also led
to the success of her company. There is a
synergy between the front of the house and
back of the house that is obvious during the
dining experience.
She comments, “I would say that service
is as important if not more important than
the food that we serve. This is always a
balancing act in fine dining as you want to
be friendly, intuitive but also professional.
I feel a positive and respectful relationship
between your kitchen and the front of the
house is essential to give the best service
to your guests. It takes a team, of which
each individual plays an integral role to
pull off a great service. Small, unexpected
touches and surprises throughout a meal
are what guests remember.” If you’ve ever
been to Bacchanalia, we can guarantee you
never forgot about the “gifts from the chef”
between courses.
Lisa Bonet, co-owner of the wine
brokerage B&L Brands, accounts for the
increase in gender diversity to there being
more female mentorship in the industry.
Early on in Lisa’s career, she worked at
Camille’s Restaurant in Morningside, a
female led Italian eatery that closed in
2002. Being a young mother and new to
hospitality, she needed to learn the ropes
quickly and Camille took her under her
wing, taught her that truth and integrity
matter and promoted her to wine buyer.
In the early ‘90s, Camille’s was one of
the first restaurants in Atlanta doing wine
dinners. Lisa remembers sitting down with
the menus and experimenting with pairings
all under the guidance of Camille. An event
that started off with a few regulars led to a
phenomenon with a monthly packed house.
Atlanta was catching the wine bug.
It was this introduction into wine
and the need for more stable hours that
she began working for a wine distributor
in 1999. In those days, she was one of
a few women in the market and worked
hard to prove her place. Despite harassing
winemakers and bully bosses, Lisa
continued to be the top seller and because
of inner confidence and “knowing you have
value even though you’re not perfect.” With
this conviction she rose through the ranks,
learning sometimes she had to be “loud to
be heard — not necessarily be a bitch, but
take no shit.”
Another challenge Lisa faced was
balancing her success with being a single
mother. “I had to conscientiously make the
decision to build a career and apologize later
so we could have what we needed” says Lisa.
“Taking time to pause and make decisions
with the best intentions will lead you to do
the right thing.”
Anne Quatrano
Now Lisa knows that because of these
past sacrifices she is the luckiest person in
the world with her business that she built
with her partner, Bobby Flournoy, including
their Oregon wine label, Mile Post.
As far as the future of wine: “When
I first started, New Zealand Sauvignon
Blanc was the rage and what everyone was
looking for and it was new and exciting.
Merlot was still the main red wine (this was
pre- “Sideways” — the film that inspired
new interest in wine culture). We were one
of the first distributors to introduce unique
wines like Txakolina and Mencia to the
market. As we see it today, these are not so
exciting. Today, it is much more expansive,
and people want to try new things, so
all these unexplored regions are showing
up. With that, consumers don’t rely on
individual wineries and common varietals
because people want to try new things. A
whole new world of wine has opened”
Things have certainly changed around
Atlanta and now there are women owned
businesses in every neighborhood and
the wine world is brimming with female
representation.
As the ‘Good of Boys Club’ mentality
erodes and the social landscape of working
moms is the norm, more opportunities
for place in the market exist. And it will
continue as more women are able to stand
up, share their stories and build a better,
stronger role in the Atlanta hospitality
industry. QD
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36 July 2021 I Id
AtlantalntownPaper.com