La Table Ronde Awards Four $10,000 Scholarships to Its First Women’s Leadership Accelerator Cohort

La Table Ronde celebrated the completion of the first cohort of its Women’s Leadership Accelerator with the awarding of four $10,000 scholarships to outstanding women entrepreneurs in Québec’s gastronomy sector. The ceremony, held at Dentons’ offices in Montréal, brought together some forty guests—including participants, mentors, coaches, and partners—to highlight the leadership and achievements of 12 women restaurateurs.

2025 Scholarship Recipients

Following a pitch session during which participants presented a business development project to a jury, four $10,000 scholarships were awarded. The projects were evaluated based on impact, clarity, growth potential, value proposition, feasibility, and leadership.

Each scholarship, presented by a program partner, was awarded as follows:

• PayFacto Scholarship – $10,000: Véronique Rivest, Co-owner and Sommelier, Soif Bar à vin, La Petite Soif

• Dentons Scholarship – $10,000: Renée Deschenes-O’Hagan, Co-owner, Bistro La Franquette

• SAQ Scholarship – $10,000: Isabelle Dupuis, Chef and Co-owner, Le Presbytère Microbrewery

• PayFacto Scholarship – $10,000: Noémie Ducharme, Co-owner and Director, Bar Jjacques, Bistro Chez Tao and Julio Taqueria

These scholarships were created to stimulate innovation and growth in the industry by providing tangible support to women entrepreneurs who help elevate Québec’s gastronomy scene.

The First Cohort at a Glance

Over the course of nearly one year, the 12 participants completed a fully personalized 360° support program that included:

• More than 30 hours of personalized coaching (nearly 400 hours in total) in strategy, finance, marketing, and human resources

• A financial analysis

• A NOVA psychometric test conducted with Monique Pelland (Espace Imagine)

• Individual mentoring meetings

• Approximately ten one-on-one meetings with program co-director Ana Marinescu (Urbana Marketing)

• Five co-development sessions

• A meeting at ITHQ in the presence of The Honourable Liza Frulla

• A leadership posture training with Valérie Martin (Genre Humain)

• Participation in C2 Montréal on the panel “Creators of Flavour, Builders of Culture”

• A conference on corporate culture with Frédérik Guérin (Club Tissus)

• A two-day retreat at the Monastère des Augustines featuring workshops on pitching, financing, and business intelligence with Anne Martel, Stéphanie Paquet-Bergeron, and Caroline Roy

• A media visibility opportunity through a special feature in La Presse, with the support of Tourisme Montréal

The 12 Participants of the 2025 Cohort

• Cheryl Johnson – Montréal Plaza, Juliette Plaza (Montréal)

• Colombe St-Pierre – Chez Saint-Pierre, Cantine Côtière (Bas-Saint-Laurent)

• Isabelle Dupuis – Le Presbytère Microbrewery (Mauricie)

• Karen Therrien – Groupe La Tanière (Tanière3, Légende, L’Orygine, Vieux Carré) (Québec City)

• Karina Tétrault – Lundis au soleil (Montréal)

• Mila Rishkova – Hoogan et Beaufort, Annette, Boucherie Édouard et Léo (Montréal)

• Maude Théroux-Séguin – Les Cavistes, Cerise (Montréal)

• Noémie Ducharme – Bar Jjacques, Bistro Chez Tao, Julio Taqueria (Québec City)

• Perle Morency – Côté Est, Chez Pépita! (Bas-Saint-Laurent)

• Renée Deschenes-O’Hagan – Bistro La Franquette (Montréal)

• Sandra Ferreira – Ferreira, Campo (Montréal)

• Véronique Rivest – Soif Bar à vin, La Petite Soif (Outaouais)

About La Table Ronde

La Table Ronde is a unifying economic development collective bringing together more than 200 restaurants—leaders in Québec’s gastronomy sector—committed to developing structuring strategic projects that accelerate the industry’s growth. This non-profit organization aims to promote sustainable and innovative gastronomy, strengthen local supply chains, solidify business models, and enhance both culinary professions and local terroir products.

Written by Jean-Philippe Tastet