The biz: D.C.'s industree sets up in Philadelphia
The launch event - the afternoon of Monday, Nov. 24 at Distrito in University City - will be a panel discussion among restaurateurs called The Heart of the House.
Industree, a restaurant-industry networking group founded last year in D.C., is setting up in Philadelphia.
The launch event - the afternoon of Monday, Nov. 24 at Distrito in University City - will be a panel discussion called The Heart of the House.
Lily Cope of the Rittenhouse demo kitchen COOK wiill moderate as Michael Solomonov (Zahav, Abe Fisher, Federal Doughnuts), Chris Kearse (Will), Marcie Turney (Barbuzzo, Lolita, Jamonera, Little Nonna's), Ben Puchowitz (Cheu Noodle Bar) and Joe Cicala (Le Virtu, Brigantessa) weigh in to give war stories. The event will start at 2:30 p.m. with food and networking, and will segue into the program, followed by a Q&A.
Industree plans to host monthly programs here on a variety of topics applicable to people working in the restaurant industry. People attend as they wish; there's no memberships.
"We connect the dots between people, whether they're front of the house or back of the house, or suppliers and vendors," said Alisia Kleinmann, who started industree after she was asked to program a breakfast series for a chamber of commerce and wrangled three restaurateurs to tell their stories.
"After that event, people asked me, 'When is the next one?'" she said. "The next one? Hah. I thought, maybe I had something there."
Kleinmann has taken on a charity partner, Drexel University, which has its own annual Philly Chef Conference. (Next one will be in January; info is here.)
Ticket prices are listed at $50 for people who are not in the restaurant industry and $30 for those in the biz, though Kleinmann is offering a 20 percent discount with the promotional code PHLindustree at checkout.