Women Should Be the Bosses
NAWBO-LA’s first ever all-LA Connects Event brings LA together to hear from Madelyn Alfano, CEO of Maria’s Italian Kitchen (and NAWBO-LA Board President)
On June 26, 2012 Over 70 members of NAWBO-LA gathered for our first ever all LA Connects Event at Maria’s Italian Kitchen on the Westside. We were there to meet and mingle, yes, but also to learn from Madelyn Alfano and her rise to become one of California’s most successful restaurant owners. Her story is a unique one, but also has many of the hallmarks of a women-owned business.
Women businesses are about family.
Starting as a young girl working at her parent’s deli in Hoboken and then later at their market in Brentwood, Alfano learned about food and great service from her family. Said Alfano, “We didn’t go to camp we went to Village Mart.” From her parents, Alfano inherited their passion for quality and customer service.
The Alfano family business moved from groceries to prepared food when her mother, Maria, started using leftovers from the meat department to make dinner. It’s a tradition Alfano continues today saying, “We make everything fresh it takes longer but it makes me feel good about what we serve.”
Indeed according to a study by the Center for Women’s Business Research, women business owners are more likely than men to have inherited their business from their mothers (17% vs. 2%) and more likely to plan to pass it on to their daughters (30% vs. 11%).
Alfano said she’s not sure if her children will take over the business, but knows that her entrepreneurship has been a great role model for her family. She recalled that her son was so used to his mother being the Chief Entrepreneur of the house, he would point to other mothers and ask “who are they the boss of?” Alfano continued, “…it’s only natural…women should be the bosses!”
Women businesses take risks but still bootstrap.According the Center for Women’s Business Research, women business owners are prepared to face risk: most (66%) are willing to take above average or substantial risks for business investments. And according to a 2006 study from Babson College, women entrepreneurs are more likely to self-finance than to use private equity.
After graduating from UCLA, Alfano took over the meat department and started a sandwich shop when she was approached by someone who suggested she should take over a restaurant in Sherman Oaks called “Joe Mammas.” In 1985 using her own savings she went for it, opening her first sit down restaurant and, thankfully renamed it, and Maria’s Italian Kitchen was born.
Women business owners build businesses through their relationships
In explaining the growth of Maria’s Italian Kitchen across California, Alfano said she’s always “found my locations through my customers.” When customers in Sherman Oaks told her about a great location in Woodland Hills, she expanded.
Finally, Alfano spoke about the importance of NAWBO in building her business. The data says that’s a good strategy too: Women owners of firms with $1 million or more in revenue are more likely to belong to formal business organizations, associations or networks than other women business owners (81% vs. 61%)
Connects events usually happen every other month in regions from the South Bay to the Valley from the Westside and to Downtown. If you haven’t been to one yet you are missing out! The next ones take place in August. RSVP here.
Julie Lacouture is a NAWBO-LA member and the co-owner of Mom Corps LA, a staffing and recruiting firm that helps growing businesses find highly qualified, highly educated employees for full-time, part-time, temporary and contract roles.
