Ladies Run the Group

Breaking the restaurant industry’s glass ceiling at Link Restaurant Group.

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In New Orleans restaurant circles, LRG stands for the Link Restaurant Group, a local hospitality company founded in 2009 by chefs Donald Link and Stephen Stryjewski. The company, grown to more than 550 employees in the past five years, oversees a multiple-James-Beard-award-winning portfolio including restaurants Herbsaint, Cochon, Cochon Butcher, Peche Seafood Grill, Calcasieu, La Boulangerie, and Gianna.

But LRG could also stand for “Ladies Run the Group” judging from how many strong female leaders, managers, chefs, and owners have come up through the ranks.  The company’s culture of promoting from within and grooming employees of all gender persuasions for growth and advancement speaks directly to Link and Stryjewski’s approach to work and life. 

“I grew up with a strong mother and a younger sister in the South, so we learned about manners and about being respectful,” said Link, who obtained his first restaurant job in his Cajun Country hometown at the age of fifteen. “I can’t say I’ve ever worked in that boy’s club scene; thankfully that escaped me. For Stephen and me, the restaurant business is about people, all people.” 

LRG’s culture of preparing employees of all genders for management and ownership is noteworthy in an industry still reeling from the aftershocks of the #MeToo movement, with chefs around the country being accused of committing and permitting sexual misconduct. Fostering a supportive environment in opposition to predation and exploitation isn’t something that required a lot of strategizing, said Link, who credits working with strong women like Traci Des Jardins in San Francisco and Susan Spicer in New Orleans for his successful management style.

“We want the best person for the job, a person with drive and ambition,” he said. “I think women in general have had to work harder to stand out.”  

Closing the Ranks

Although women earn more degrees than men and seek advancement alongside their male colleagues, women are less likely to become managers, according to “Women in the Workplace 2018,” a study of the U.S. workforce by McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.org. For every one hundred men promoted to management, only seventy-nine women reach the same status, with even worse odds for women of color. That leaves men holding sixty-two percent of management positions, while women hold less than forty percent, although that number inches to forty-six percent in the restaurant industry, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Teaching team members the mechanics of the job is one thing, said Link. “We look to our restaurant family when we need managers. We plan for that by teaching leadership and life skills. The goal is to turn people into leaders, managers, chefs, and owners.”  

Take Rebecca Wilcomb, for instance, who won a James Beard Award as chef de cuisine at Herbsaint in 2017. “I wasn’t itching to open another restaurant, but creating opportunities for people like Rebecca is why we are here,” said Link. “I wasn’t dying to own a bakery either, but when the opportunity came up for Maggie Scales with La Boulangerie—when she said she wanted it, that’s what happened. If she’d said no, I wouldn’t have found someone else. It was about helping her grow.” 

Starting at the Bottom

Like so many of her colleagues, Wilcomb, thirty-eight, worked her way along the service sector, hostessing and bartending before making her way to the kitchen, and ultimately to management and ownership. “I knew I wanted to cook,” said Wilcomb, who moved to New Orleans to take a job as a line cook at Herbsaint in 2008. “And I knew I wanted to work for Donald. I liked what he had to say about food and his philosophy about life in general. Donald doesn’t just offer you a job—if you work hard, you can earn a piece of the pie.”

Although she hadn’t aspired to owning her own restaurant, Wilcomb said she loves the challenge of managing her Gianna team. “I am lucky that I’ve always worked in supportive environments for women. We don’t believe in seniority or nepotism. It’s always about the best person for the job. But you create those people, they don’t just show up that way. Our focus is on what a person—male, female, transgender—brings to food and hospitality. Donald and Stephen are generous with their time, teaching and discussing things openly, including mistakes and lessons they’ve learned.” 

That commitment to transparency and accountability, from the top down, is critical, she added. “They lead by example, stressing to always be honest and true to yourself and the people around you. I can’t even begin to describe how much I’ve learned from them. There’s just no such thing as a ‘boys will be boys’ mentality in this company.”

Fostering Success

Wilcomb is just one example. Brandy Trepagnier, 36, started at Cochon as a bartender fourteen years ago before eventually becoming director of catering and events at the event space Calcasieu. She currently holds the general manager position at Gianna. 

Then there’s Maggie Scales, who worked with James Beard winner Lydia Shire for three years before relocating to New Orleans to work at Omni Hotels, and then came onboard LRG as a sous chef for LRG’s pastry department. In the past six years, she’s grown into the role of executive pastry chef for the company, and also runs and co-owns La Boulangerie Bakery Uptown. 

“When he’s presented opportunities to me, I always say yes,” said Scales. “Between Stephen and Donald and women like Brandy, Heather [Lolley], and Rebecca, my experience with this company is beyond amazing.”

Heather Lolley opened Herbsaint in 2000 as a bartender, advancing to manager by 2005. In July of 2006, she took over as general manager at the newly opened Cochon, growing her operational chops every step of the way. 

“There’s a sense that Stephen and Donald have our backs,” said Lolley. “They’re hands-on chefs with a clear vision of what they want, and they help us make that vision a reality. They tell us why we need to do something a certain way. Too often people get dictated to and don’t understand the thought process. They are passionate about sharing ideas and listening. This company is founded on treating people with respect. It’s familial. We feel ownership, we feel safe and welcome.”

“As a young person, being part of a group that I trusted and respected definitely helped shape some of my better choices,” said Lolley. “Even seeing partners in a healthy relationship is positive, which is something that not everyone has been exposed to.”

Stephen Stryjewski knows what it’s like to work in macho kitchens where intimidation is the order of the day. “I learned what I didn’t what to be and do,” he said. “I started washing dishes in old-school restaurants where it was a rite of passage to work hours without pay and have people treat you like garbage. I want the people I work with to enjoy what they do and to be treated fairly.”

When he met Link and Susan Spicer at Herbsaint, he saw a much different philosophy at work. “I thrived in that environment and became business partners with Donald. We believe that how you treat people at work isn’t just a reflection of who you are, it is who you are.” 

That attitude starts at the top and filters down. Hiring the most qualified person no matter their ethnicity, sexual preference, religion, or gender, and then helping that person advance, is the heart of LRG’s culture. 

In the past few years, Stryjewski said he has found himself thinking a lot about how to attract a diverse base into management ranks, both for LRG and New Orleans restaurants in general. 

“Having people grow with us is one of the greatest things about being an owner,” he said. “Helping people succeed whether they stay with us or go out on their own, it’s just a great feeling.” 

Learn more at linkrestaurantgroup.com.