Championing women leaders

"Girls are worth the investment," the CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA, Ann Marie Chávez (above), said of her commitment to the organization as she spoke to 3,000 attendees at the annual Women's Foodservice Forum Leadership Development Conference this past week.

Executives from four major foodservice corporations -- Brinker International Inc. (Chili's Grill & Bar), Focus Brands (Cinnabon and others), Starbucks Corp. and Yum! Brands Inc. (KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell) -- also said they feel a responsibility to champion women in the restaurant industry.

Wyman Roberts, president and CEO of Brinker International, provided the reasoning: “Over 50 percent of our guests are women. Well over 50 percent of the decision-making processes in almost everything are influenced by women.

“To not have that voice at the table doesn’t make sense," Roberts said. "It’s bad business.”

Read what (below, clockwise from top left) SteveDeSutter, Greg Creed, Howard Behar and Roberts said in my report at Nation's Restaurant News.