Monday, November 13

People, Planet, and Profit

Don’t miss the Center’s Business & Food Forum! We’re extending our Early Bird rate plus a special guest offer! Register one attendee at the regular early bird rate (using promo code OCTFF17) and you’ll receive an email with a promo code to register a guest at no cost. (Members registering at the Center $10 member rate will also receive a promo code for a free guest).

Network with other women in business while enjoying an all-inclusive food experience: wine, beer, and appetizers featuring local seasonal produce from our Eden Hall campus, as well as samples of chocolate, mushrooms, cheese, biodynamic wines, and hard cider with tasting notes from Chatham University Food Studies Students. Enjoy a festive evening and hear from food entrepreneur Vimala Rajendran, immigrant, grandmother, and winner of 2017 Best Indian Restaurant in the Triangle (beating out all Indian restaurants in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and Cary) with her unique and inspirational “pay what and if you can” business model.

Vimala Rajendran is a chef and restaurateur who deeply believes that we grow our community by engaging intentionally in the farm to fork process and living our vision of creative resiliency. She proudly states that food is a human right and her business motto is “Vimala cooks, everyone eats.” No one is ever turned away at her restaurant – yet she still makes a profit. Her business, Vimala’s Curryblossom Cafe, prioritizes worker, environmental, and social justice; accessibility through affordability; and sustainability at every level. Her award winning restaurant, founded rather unexpectedly in 2010, pays a living wage. The idea to be a triple bottom line business came naturally to Vimala, given her mission to be sustainable on every level possible.  The three areas they focus on are people, planet and profit.  

Vimala Rajendran

Owner and Chef, Vimala's Curryblossom Cafe

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Vimala Rajendran grew up in Bombay, India where she learned to cook from family, street vendors & friends. In 1994, a single mother of three, Vimala started cooking donation-based community dinners in Chapel Hill, North Carolina home. Sixteen years later, in 2010, thanks to the support of our beloved community, Vimala’s Curryblossom Cafe was born. Despite being an “unexpected chef,” her restaurant has won the INDY Week’s 2015 and 2017 Best Indian Restaurant in the Triangle (beating out all Indian restaurants in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and Cary).  She is an immigrant, survivor of domestic abuse, community activist, social entrepreneur, mother of three, grandmother, and mentor to countless people.