Thursday, June 15, 2023
By Michele W. Berger
Ambassador Council member Lance Stier, C’04, welcoming the panel, from left to right: College alum and culinary history consultant Tonya Hopkins; Billy Peelle, C’05, hospitality consultant and former director of operations for the restaurant group that includes Eleven Madison Park; Jennie Ripps, C’03, tea sommelier and co-founder of Owl’s Brew beverage company; and Ingrid Hung, C’17, co-founder of the online marketplace I Have This Friend.
When Jackie Bein, C’19, Michelle Cossette, C’19, Talia Seder, C’18, and Claire Shoyer, C’19, were Penn students, they bonded over meals. Shoyer, today a rabbinical student, had even contemplated becoming a food scientist. “We tend to come together around food,” said Seder, today a therapist in New York City.
The other three live in the city as well, so when Bein heard about an event there featuring Penn alums in the food, beverage, and hospitality industries, she gathered her friends. On a Wednesday in June, the quartet joined a hundred or so alums at the Georgia Room in New York’s Flatiron District for Ben’s Table, an evening of tasting, sipping, and networking. A panel discussion led by College alum and culinary history consultant Tonya Hopkins—also known as “The Food Griot”—capped off the event, hosted by the Penn Arts & Sciences Professional Women’s Alliance and the Ambassador Council.
Mother-daughter Natalie Weil, C’19, left, and Lori Weil, C’88, listening to the panelists talk about their experience in the food industry.
“We’re here to celebrate the value of an arts and sciences degree, the different transferrable skills, how you sometimes end up where you intend—and how sometimes you don’t,” said Hopkins, kicking off a conversation with panelists Billy Peelle, C’05, hospitality consultant and former director of operations for the restaurant group that includes Eleven Madison Park; Jennie Ripps, C’03, tea sommelier and co-founder of Owl’s Brew beverage company; and Ingrid Hung, C’17, co-founder of the online marketplace I Have This Friend, aimed at fostering connections in the food industry.
“I graduated from Penn knowing I wanted to work in the hospitality industry,” Hung said, but “it’s not always a clear path.”
Sometimes that journey starts in one place and ends elsewhere, like for OJ Lima, C’94, an English major and Spanish minor at Penn who spent decades in corporate media. That night, however, he was showcasing Taste Select Repeat (TSR), an e-commerce liquor store he started in 2020 that specializes in single-barrel whiskey and single-barrel tequila, what he calls “fancy spirits.”
Mark Schlecker, C’09, had worked in finance until about three years ago, when he and his cousin went looking for a coffee alternative. “We thought, ‘Why isn’t there something you can pull out of your pocket and pop into your mouth when you need a jolt of energy?’” Schlecker said. From their brainstorming emerged a new company, Ember, and with it, energy chews in flavors like mocha, green tea, and matcha, the first of which they started selling about four months ago. They also donated thousands of pouches to soldiers and front-line workers in Ukraine. “We’ve supported a cause we believe in with our product,” Schlecker said. “That’s one of the coolest impacts we’ve gotten to have.”
Peter Stein, C’04, left, of Peeko Oysters, talking with alums at the event.
Besides taste-testing the Ember gummies and the TSR drinks, attendees at Ben’s Table had the chance to indulge in another kind of gummy—the candy kind—plus several types of chocolate, courtesy of Ambassador Council member Lance Stier, C’04, and his company Nassau Candy. They sipped Owl’s Brew tea cocktails; slurped Peeko oysters from Peter Stein, C’04; tried a Syrian salad called kibbeh nayeh from personal chef Jennifer Abadi, C’88; and snagged fruit chips by the bag from a table of RIND Snacks, co-founded and run by Ben Cohn, W’02.
The night was about more than just delicious food and drink, though. Alums networked and connected, reminiscing about their time in West Philadelphia. “I had the best years there. My parents didn’t go to college, so when I went to Penn it was a whole new experience,” Lima said. “I really appreciate the time I spent there.”
It was a sentiment shared by many, including Bein and her friends, who loved the fact that they could enjoy and learn from Penn alums in their own New York backyard. “The event was a great way to connect and reconnect with fellow alumni, to hear about their impressive ventures in food and hospitality,” said Bein, who majored in history at Penn and today works in affordable housing. “I’m already looking forward to the next event.”
