FSR December 2022

Perspectives BY ISABELLA SHERK

ARestaurantof One’sOwn Female-founded and led Source Collab is bringing a fresh perspective to a male-dominated industry.

AMBER CAUDLE BEGAN her career working as a chef in what was—and remains in many ways—a male-domi nated restaurant industry. ese chal lenges ultimately led her to strike out on her own and combat health chal lenges she encountered while working in the job; she wanted to create an envi ronment that was more empowering and wellness-minded. About five years after Caudle opened her first restaurant, Source Café in Hermosa Beach, Califor nia, Beth Hannemann joined the com pany as its chief financial officer. A year after that, Cindy Van Pelt came onboard as chief operating officer. Now, these three women lead Source Collab, a hospitality group comprising two restaurants: the original Source Café that Caudle opened 10 years ago, and the newer Nine24 Kitchen, a more elevated, sit-down concept in Manhat tan Beach. Together, the women have set their sights on making healthy food for their community in the South Bay region of Los Angeles. How was your partnership formed? AMBER CAUDLE: Source Café was the origi nal restaurant that opened 10 years ago. en, about five or six years ago, Beth came on as our CFO, and Cindy, our other partner, came on about a year after to help with Source Café. Two years ago we opened our second restaurant,

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER CINDY VAN PELT, CHEF AMBER CAUDLE, AND CFO BETH HANNEMANN (LEFT TO RIGHT) LEAD CALIFORNIA-BASED SOURCE COLLAB.

“I think all of us have such strong skill sets we can rely on and trust each other to know these areas of the business so it doesn’t feel like we’re stretching ourselves.”

SIRI BERTING PHOTOGRAPHY

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FSRMAGAZINE .COM

DECEMBER 2022