The Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington’s (RAMW) first-ever RAMMYS Honors highlighted the restaurant industry’s resilience, beauty and strength. Held at the Watergate Hotel on June 18, this inaugural event was more than a time to distribute awards, but a special moment to listen to the change-makers working to advance the District’s restaurant scene overall.
“This event is a testament to the talent, hard work, and passion that define the Washington, D.C. restaurant scene,” Shawn Townsend, RAMW president and CEO, said in a statement.
The honors featured scrumptious finger foods, an open bar, craft offerings, and the dynamic hosting style of political strategist, author and co-host of MSNBC’s “The Weekend” Symone Sanders Townsend, who is married to the current RAMW president. The ceremony celebrated six RAMMYS Honorary Milestone Award recipients; Kathy E. Hollinger, former RAMW president and current CEO of Greater Washington Partnership, who received the Duke Zeibert Capital Achievement Award; and Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School, which won the Joan Hisaoka Allied Member of the Year.
Honored for their significant number of years serving the DMV area, the Milestone Award Winners included: The Dubliner (50 years), Black’s Bar and Kitchen (25 years), Equinox on 19th (25 years), KAZ Sushi Bistro (25 years), Marcel’s (25 years), and Passage to India (25 years).
“We are proud to honor the six RAMMYS Milestone Award recipients whose remarkable achievements and enduring commitment have enriched our culinary community,” Townsend noted.
As each honoree accepted their award, there was a common theme of all of the trials each restaurateur had overcome to get to that point.
“I just want to say congratulations to all the recipients. It shows an amount of fortitude that very few people can grasp, because to stay relevant in this business, and stay strong in this business for that length of time is a testament to the people,” said Jeff Black of Black’s Bar and Kitchen and Black Restaurant Group.
Black emphasized the people who helped his business thrive.
“You don’t get to this point on your own. You don’t get to the top of the hill by fighting, you get lifted to the top. And you get lifted to the top by the people who work for you,” he explained. “So this is for everyone who works for me.”
Up-Close with Hollinger, Surviving the COVID-19 Pandemic
For many of the awardees, the RAMMYS Honors was a moment to not only celebrate, but get real about the issues they have overcome, continue to face, and hope to see addressed.
Sanders Townsend, hosted an engaging conversation with Hollinger about her road to RAMW, her work with the organization, and what she’s been up to since she’s left.
“You’re a tough cookie when you need to be, but you’re truly light and love and I think I speak for everyone in this room when I say ‘Congratulations.’ Such a deserving honor tonight,” Sanders Townsend said.
The relationship between Hollinger and the Townsends goes back. Hollinger, as former RAMW president, would regularly call Townsend, during the pandemic, as he then served as the District’s Nightlife Mayor.
“I joked about you calling the house during the pandemic. I was like ‘Seriously. What does Kathy do,’” Sanders Townsend, told the crowd. “It was during that time that I really understood, and got to know you even better, and just how dedicated you are.”
Hollinger has been a hero, crusader and advocate for many in the District’s restaurant scene.
“For a decade, Kathy led RAMW, bringing an innovative and inspiring leadership style to the organization, as the regional restaurant scene went through an explosive period of growth, while garnering wide-acclaim, and then severely being impacted by the constant evolving challenges of the pandemic,” Townsend explained. “Through it all, Kathy was a strong champion of our membership, always listening, always thinking outside the box, always creating powerful partnerships, always a steady and uplifting presence, always creating new visions for better futures, and, of course, always calling me asking her favorite question during the pandemic, ‘Shawn when is this going to end?’”
Hollinger revealed one of the hardest days she faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I did have a restaurateur who showed up at my front door in tears, and was devastated that they were absolutely losing everything. They were looking to me for answers and I had no answers. So that was the hardest day,” Hollinger recalled. “It was people being so vulnerable and devastated and asking questions like I was to Shawn. ‘When will this end? Please give me an exact time and date that this will end. As my money is running out. I have to let go of my people, I have to think about what to do in terms of opening, closing completely.’ It was hard. The first 10 days were excruciatingly painful. But I think we all know the pain was lessened but still significant for years after.”
She applauded the restaurant industry insiders and allies who have helped Washington area food and beverage establishments continue to thrive post the pandemic.
Through her work at Greater Washington Partnership, Hollinger continues to advocate for local businesses.
“I’ve left that small business majority, and work for an alliance of the leading employers in the region from Baltimore to Richmond– so they’re not small businesses. They’re very big businesses that employ 300,000 people in this region. What [RAMW] prepared me for was to give or see through the lens of a small business,” Hollinger explained. “How big businesses can consider growth for a region that is very unique.”
The Greater Washington Partnership CEO said that her team is focused on strengthening the DMV region’s business community overall and the restaurant industry is a valuable part of that growth goal.
“There is a lot of work that’s done to consider how to grow a region inclusively, competitively, economically,” Hollinger explained. “I had a very different transition, but it’s really just flipping a script. It’s looking from a different lens, with incredible leaders in this region, who are really committed to industries like food service to ensure we grow.”