Yes, Chef: How 4 Women Became Leaders In Sur La Table’s Kitchens

When the first Sur La Table location opened its doors at 84 Pine Street back in 1972, it quickly became the place for aspiring chefs, bakers and home cooks in the Pacific Northwest to come to in search of inspiration and, of course, kitchen equipment.

But it wasn’t until 1996, when founder Shirley Collins sold Sur La Table to the Behnke family, that our Culinary Program and in-store cooking classes came to be.

As our Culinary Program Founder Renee Behnke puts it: “We traveled the world to discover new flavors and cook with local chefs—that sparked my passion to bring back techniques, tools and cookware to help people explore global cooking.”

Now, more than 30 years later, over 393,000 people attend our cooking classes each year!

From those first days, women have always been key to Sur La Table’s success—67.8% of Sur La Table employees are women and women hold 26 of our 51 Resident Chef positions.

And while that’s a statistic we’re immensely proud of, that’s not the case for the industry as a whole. In fact, according to Forbes, only 21% of head chefs in the US are female.

As a female-founded and female-run business, we’re always striving to bring more women to the table and to have conversations about what it means to be a woman in a male-dominated industry.

So, to cap off Women’s History Month, we sat down with four of our Resident Chefs to hear their stories, get their advice for aspiring female chefs and get down to the nitty-gritty of it all.

Hungry for more? You can learn from these chefs and more in our cooking classes! From homemade pasta and Parisian bites to flaky, buttery croissants, there’s no end to what you’ll cook up.

Explore Our Cooking Classes

I have been in the [restaurant] industry for decades and, prior to Sur La Table, I was a Corporate Executive Chef at both Southwest Airlines and Home Shopping Network and have worked a myriad of jobs—including as a Resort Chef, Country Club Chef, etc.

The world of fine dining, culinary arts, baking and pastry making, and food service is dominated by men. What has been your experience as a woman working in such a male-dominated industry? How do you assert yourself as a leader, in spite of preexisting biases or prejudices?

Adversity for women in this industry includes everything from unequal opportunities to stereotyping and gender bias. Overcoming these, for me, took determination, dedication and a good mentor. And then, there’s a whole host of challenges as a working mother, trying to find that work-life balance. It takes a village.

Follow Up: What advice do you have for other female chefs who are looking to break into the industry?

Build your village; find reliable friends that can help you with your personal life because you are not going to have the time to focus on yourself for a while.

What is your favorite part of being a Resident Chef for Sur La Table?

Watching the “lightbulb moments” from our students and our repeat customers that come to see me. The staff and the culture here is pretty great, too.

What is your favorite thing to cook?

Anything that allows me to express my creativity and passion for food.

What is your favorite Sur La Table tool or small appliance?

The KitchenAid™ Stand Mixer

***

I came to work for Sur La Table at Fashion Show Mall as it seemed to be a great avenue for my journey to blend my culinary expertise with the products offered.

The world of fine dining, culinary arts, baking and pastry making, and food service is dominated by men. What has been your experience as a woman working in such a male-dominated industry? How do you assert yourself as a leader, in spite of preexisting biases or prejudices?

In the hospitality industry, being a respected presence in mixed company in this fashion helped me to gain confidence and exercise my voice in a respectful manner to all on my teams.

I worked alongside many talented female chefs throughout the years who inspired me (and scared me a little, too) to keep moving and to always put my best plate forward. I encourage my fellow female peers to maintain their sense of dignity and handle all situations with grace.

Being able to keep composure when handling stressful situations and maintaining focus to achieve the intended target is always paramount. Heartache is part of the terrain, but reminding oneself that even if there is failure, failure is improvement on the way to success.

What is your favorite part of being a Resident Chef for Sur La Table?

My favorite part of being an RC at Sur La Table is being able to deliver consistent experiences, both in classes as well as seamless guest service on the sales floor. The moment I enjoy most during a class is when a student has the realization about a certain technique/tool/concept in action.  

What is your favorite thing to cook?

I like to share with my students that food is a love language—I use it to show others that I care for them by evoking memories of nostalgia to feed not only their bellies, but also their spirits.

I tend to stick to the foods of my childhood that bring me comfort; the dishes my mother made for me and first taught me to create.

What is your favorite Sur La Table tool or small appliance?

My first purchase at Sur La Table was a lemon press—still one of the most important tools in my collection. My favorite tool, however, is my Bob Kramer Meiji Chef’s Knife. It’s not only functional but also a piece of art.

***

As you can imagine, it then became the family restaurant and we all worked there on the weekends. My father insisted that I learn from the bottom up every position and was treated like one of the employees. With that said, I started as a busser, then hostess, waitress, banquet server, banquet captain, assisted in the kitchen and eventually, at the age of 17, closing manager.

We eventually bought another restaurant on the Tony Lema Golf Course in San Leandro and I decided to take a 3 year break from the family restaurant business—but, within 3 years, I was back assistant managing the operation; it was in my DNA.

Eventually, my parents decided to move out of the area and I took over running the restaurant operation on my own when I was 28 years old.

In that first year, I was able to increase revenue 25% and proceeded to raise those numbers over the next 2 years. Eventually, the course was sold to American Golf Corporation, and they bought the restaurant as well. I was offered a job to stay on as Director of Food and Beverage and took it. I stayed for an additional two years until I got married and moved to Sonoma County.

After having my daughter, we bought a delicatessen, and our operation grew 400% within the first two years. We sold the deli, but I held on to the catering side of the business, which is what I did for 16 years before becoming the Resident Chef at Sur La Table in Santa Rosa. 

The world of fine dining, culinary arts, baking and pastry making, and food service is dominated by men. What has been your experience as a woman working in such a male-dominated industry? How do you assert yourself as a leader, in spite of preexisting biases or prejudices?

Being a woman in a predominately male business was not always easy. In the early years, being in the kitchen with some chefs, you were in the way—you were not taken seriously because you were supposed to be the one serving the guests and looking cute.

We had an Assistant Chef that took me under his wing and taught me some of the easier items on the menu. The first thing I learned how to make was chocolate mousse because the first thing I would do when I got to the restaurant everyday was grab a spoon, go into the walk-in refrigerator and serve myself a cup of chocolate mousse out of the huge vat. He would always tell me to get out of there until, one day he said, “If you’re going to eat it, you’re going to learn how to make it!”

And the rest is history.

Follow Up: What advice do you have for other female chefs who are looking to break into the industry?

My advice for all of my chefs that tell me they want to learn not just how to cook and teach, but the industry itself is that you have to do the work!

Learn every position within the establishment. Not one person is more important than another and not one job is more important than the other. The true road to success that I learned over the many years I have been doing this is TEAMWORK. It is truly that simple.

What is your favorite part of being a Resident Chef for Sur La Table?

My favorite part of being a Resident Chef for Sur La Table is watching the excitement in people’s eyes when they learn how to make their favorite dish, how to dice an onion like a chef, or see their croissants come out of the oven and look like they were professionally made.

And I love getting to share my knowledge with my students.

What is your favorite thing to cook?

That’s a tough question! It’s not one thing in particular, it’s a variety of dishes like paella, dim sum, croissants…

What is your favorite Sur La Table tool or small appliance?

My favorite Sur La Table tools are the Ratchet Mills, and my favorite small appliance is the Breville Blender—it is so quiet.

***

My grandmother was the quintessential farmer’s wife who grew and harvested most of their produce in her gardens and orchard. Growing up, I would help her pick fruits and veggies and she would teach me how to transform it all—not only into food but also how to can, pickle and preserve anything, from jam to pasta sauce. She was also a proficient baker; she definitely played a huge role in sparking my interest in cooking.

Prior to Sur La Table, I was an Executive Chef for Claddagh Irish Pubs running three of their Indianapolis locations and becoming their Corporate Training Chef over the course of 3 years. After a short stint in arena catering and concessions at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum, I moved to Cincinnati and began working for Taste of Belgium.

I spent 4 years there as the Executive Chef for three of their locations before being promoted to Commissary Director, running their large-scale production facility where all their scratch-made food and pastries are prepared, as well as running their catering, food truck and retail divisions.

The world of fine dining, culinary arts, baking and pastry making, and food service is dominated by men. What has been your experience as a woman working in such a male-dominated industry? How do you assert yourself as a leader, in spite of preexisting biases or prejudices?

My biggest takeaway as a female leader in a male-dominated field is to speak up for yourself, loudly and repeatedly if necessary, to make sure that not only is your voice heard, but to also make sure that your ideas and contributions are, in fact, attributed to you. Not letting other people take credit for your efforts is a lesson you have to learn quickly.

Any leader, regardless of gender, can easily assert themselves as such by simply understanding the difference between a leader and a boss. A boss will just tell you to do something, while a leader sets the standard by getting their hands dirty and being willing to prove that they too are willing and capable to do a job.

I would never ask an employee or team member to perform a task that I myself have not shown to have completed.

Follow Up: What advice do you have for other female chefs who are looking to break into the industry?

Work in the industry first before making the decision to attend a culinary school—real world application is very, very different from just being a good cook. In truth, being a successful chef has very little to do with how well you cook and far more to do with your people, organizational and managerial skills.

Make sure you can not only hack it but are able to hold onto your passion in a real-world application—burnout is far too common in this industry because people don’t understand what they are actually getting into. Trust me, the Food Network has been lying to you.

What is your favorite part of being a Resident Chef for Sur La Table?

I love the variety that comes with teaching. Working in restaurants, you make 25-30 dishes all day every day and you are very much pigeon-holed into only making those items.

Getting to teach a wide variety of classes, both sweet and savory and spread out all over the world gives me an opportunity not only to keep my varied skills sharp, but also encourages me to continue learning and expanding myself.

What is your favorite thing to cook?

I love making croissants and breads and classic French cuisine.

What is your favorite Sur La Table tool or small appliance?

The Garlic Roller and the Microplane are my go-to tool combo; I use them practically every time I cook. I love garlic but hate dealing with the stickiness of it, they make it so much cleaner and faster.

Hungry for more? You can learn from these chefs and more in our cooking classes! From homemade pasta and Parisian bites to flaky, buttery croissants, there’s no end to what you’ll cook up.

Explore Our Cooking Classes