Putting women on the map: Sally Abé and Kayla Lawrie’s mission to champion female-led hospitality

Where are all the female-led hospitality businesses in the UK? That is the question that Sally Abé and Kayla Lawrie asked, and found themselves wanting, so they decided to do something about it. Abé, a long-time chef who recently opened Teal by Sally Abé in Hackney, and Lawrie, a producer at food media outlet Topjaw, have created a map that pinpoints bars, cafés, restaurants, pubs and bakeries run by women across the whole of the UK, complete with information about their founders and links to their social media channels.

The map launched with around 350 venues and has already grown to more than 500, with hundreds more waiting to be added. While London currently has the greatest concentration of listings, the pair are encouraging submissions from across the UK as they work towards creating a truly nationwide resource.

As well as helping diners make more informed choices about where they spend their money, Abé and Lawrie hope the project will strengthen connections between women in hospitality and provide a valuable resource for media, festivals and brands looking to discover female talent.

What inspired you to create the map?

Sally Abé: After hospitality had its MeToo movement in March last year, when myself and a number of other female chefs and hospitality professionals wrote an open letter to the press, Kayla, who I had already met through Topjaw, reached out to me and said, ‘what can we do?’ So, we came up with the idea of creating a map to give visibility to women-led and women-owned restaurants.

Why do you think it’s important to increase visibility for women in the industry?

Kayla Lawrie: Traditionally, when we think about media coverage, there’s been a gap in opportunities and visibility for female chefs and women-owned restaurants. It’s important not only to increase that visibility but also to show the depth and diversity that exists within the industry. Female-owned businesses are often deeply embedded in their local communities. It’s lovely to highlight them, give them a platform, showcase their work and shine a spotlight on businesses that don’t always get the recognition they deserve.

Sally, as a female chef, do you think being a woman has made your career more challenging?

SA: Definitely. Only around 17% of chefs are women, and hospitality has traditionally been set up with men in mind. That affects everything, from the height of work benches and expectations around heavy lifting to the attitudes and culture within professional kitchens. Because the industry has been so male dominated, it’s often been designed around male bodies and behaviours. Those factors have held women back and, in some cases, discouraged them from entering the industry altogether. That’s one of the reasons this project is so important to both Kayla and me. Despite those challenges, there are so many incredible women doing amazing work, and we want to celebrate them.

How did you go about identifying the businesses?

KL: Following the open letter, Sally had already got an influx of messages, so that gave us a starting point. Through my work at Topjaw, I spend a lot of time researching restaurants and the people behind them. I’d describe my research skills as almost stalker-level! The more I searched, the more businesses I found - but I also realised just how many were difficult to find. Researching London was relatively straightforward, but once I started looking in places like Bath, Leeds, Aberdeen and smaller towns across the country, it became much harder. We knew there were female pub landlords, café owners and bakers out there, but they often had very little media coverage or PR because many are independent businesses run by just one person.

How many businesses are currently included?

KL: When we launched, we were really excited to reach 350 businesses. Looking back, though, that’s actually a tiny number when you consider how many hospitality businesses there are across the UK. But now we have more than 500, and I already have around 600 more waiting to be added. We originally thought 1,000 businesses was an ambitious goal, but once I’ve made the additions, we will have knocked through that easily.

Why did you choose to present it as an interactive map?

KL: There have been other directories and databases before, but many have focused on a specific sector, such as bars, or they’ve been presented as spreadsheets. We wanted something visual and interactive that people could explore. Everyone consumes information differently. Some people love lists, but I’m a very visual person. That’s why everything is colour coded.

What reaction have you seen to it?

SA: When you launch something like this, you don’t really know how people are going to react. But the response has been incredibly positive. Even weeks after launching, people are still commenting, sharing the map and recommending businesses. In today’s world, where information moves so quickly, it’s amazing that it’s continued to gain momentum. People have also asked whether we plan to monetise the project, but that’s never been the goal. We didn’t create this to make money. We built it because it was something we wanted to exist and because we knew there was a real appetite for it.

What reaction have you seen within the industry specifically?

KL: The best part has been the sense of community. People comment on our Instagram posts recommending other women-owned businesses in their area. Someone in Sheffield, for example, might tag six other female-owned venues nearby. Women are actively supporting other women, and that’s been one of the most rewarding parts of the project.

Do you see the project growing to an international level?

KL: We’ve actually had people from other countries saying they’d love to create similar maps in places like Portugal, Spain and Ireland, and that’s really exciting because we’re not trying to keep this idea to ourselves. We don’t see it as our concept to own. If people take the idea and build something similar for their own communities, that’s fantastic.

Have you faced any challenges while creating or maintaining the map?

KL: The biggest challenge at the beginning was simply finding the businesses. In a way, that proved exactly why the map was needed. I’d spend hours researching and eventually uncover an amazing cocktail bar in Birmingham or a brilliant café somewhere else, but finding those businesses wasn’t easy. The lack of visibility highlighted the problem we were trying to solve.

What impact are you hoping the project will have for women working in hospitality?

SA: Visibility is the first and most obvious goal. Every customer who chooses to spend money at a woman-owned business is making a real difference. I’d also love to see the map help create stronger connections between women in hospitality. Imagine two female-owned businesses that don’t know each other. They might discover one another through the map, collaborate on an event, share advice or simply build a supportive relationship. Hospitality is a really tough industry at the moment, so creating opportunities for women to connect and support one another would be a wonderful outcome.

KL: I also think about opportunities within the media and food industry. At Topjaw, for example, whenever we’re looking for diverse talent or female chefs to work with, the same relatively small group of people tends to come up over and over again. There are so many talented women outside that established circle, but they’re much harder to find. I hope this map becomes a resource for publishers, festivals, event organisers and brands looking to work with female chefs and hospitality professionals.

Do you think the map might inspire more women to start their own businesses?

SA: I really hope so. I always say, ‘You can’t be what you can’t see’. The more visible successful women become, the more likely other women are to see those role models and think, ‘I could do that too’.

Are there any regions where you’d particularly like to expand the map?

KL: Wales really interests me. I’ve never actually been, but it’s somewhere I’d love to explore. Scotland is another area that’s incredibly exciting, especially Glasgow, which is having a real culinary moment. And just the nooks and crannies of the UK, for example, Jersey and the Isle of Man. There are brilliant businesses everywhere, and I’d love the map to reflect that.

Beyond the map itself, are there any other initiatives you’d like to develop?

SA: We both work full-time, so we’re very focused on building and maintaining the map. But we definitely have ideas. One thing we’d love to do is eventually turn the map into an app. I’d also love to organise events - perhaps a big celebration bringing together all the women featured on the map. There are so many possibilities. In 20 years’ time, this could be something that’s recognised all over the world.

What would you like people to take away from this project?

KL: Creating the map is wonderful because it gives these businesses visibility, but the real impact comes when people actually walk through the door, book a table, buy a coffee or pick up a pastry; every visit makes a difference. If the map encourages people to make those choices more consciously, then we’ve achieved exactly what we set out to do.

SA: Quite simply, go and eat at women-owned restaurants, drink in women-owned bars, and visit women-owned cafés and bakeries.