Female Empowerment & Inspiring Philanthropic Spirits

When researching the success of grilled cheese within the restaurant world I came across Gayle V’s Best Ever Grilled Cheese--a grilled cheese restaurant in Chicago. Gayle V’s Best Ever Grilled Cheese is a female owned business, and because of this I used it as my focus to empower my sorority through our grilled cheese philanthropy. Gayle V's grilled cheese Journey began in 2010, when she was at the Green City Market. Gayle sold cheese at the Prairie Pure Cheese booth. She then decided to enter the world of grilled cheese, which was inspired by the baked bread from Bennison's Bakery in the butter from Nordic Creamery which were both vendors at the market (“Gayle’s Best Ever” n.d.). Gayle's use of premium ingredients inspired me when I was choosing the ingredients for the grilled cheese philanthropy event. I wanted ``Grilled Cheesy with the Dee Zees'' to be a grilled cheese event where patrons could receive a sandwich that was not your typical grilled cheese. So, I budgeted for higher quality ingredients to make sure the food items were more memorable. This decision was partially inspired by Gayle's business. Not only was I inspired by Gayle's use of premium ingredients, but I was also inspired by Gayle's Perseverance within her grilled cheese business. Gayle was previously a bookkeeper, and she chose a new career path after she worked as a vendor at the Farmer’s Market selling Prairie Pure Cheese. I wanted to prove to my sorority sisters that despite the fact that many of us do not have experience working in events like this we could come together, find a way to make it our own, and provide an event that raised money through the love of grilled cheese. Similar to Gayle, our sorority took on a new role outside of our comfort zone to share a food item that we loved and wanted to share with out community. We set aside our reservations and challenged ourselves to make the best quality grilled cheese–just like Gayle.