Our Mission

We work to empower hospitality workers to break the cycle of financial insecurity and create equity in our industry’s workforce, through:

Education and Training

  • Cafe Overlook -   Working to eliminate financial insecurity, strengthen the workforce, and improve opportunities for advancement in the restaurant industry, with a goal of building a sustainable restaurant community in Central Ohio. 

  • Service Workforce Development Programs

  • Tools and resources for business owners, GMs

Economic Relief

  • Distributing Grants for Hospitality Workers in Central Ohio

  • Advocacy

  • Recognition


Poverty is a human rights issue with fatal outcomes. More than 2.5 million workers in the labor force in 2018 were classified as “working poor,” and service-industry workers accounted for 40% of all “working poor” people. Too many folks in the restaurant industry struggle to make ends meet. 

COVID-related shutdowns and closures provided a unique opportunity for restaurant owners to examine the shortcomings of the industry and the resulting conditions for its employees. As restaurants reopened, business owners encountered new challenges including retraining staff, limited capacity, and high employee turnover. 

Shortcomings that have existed in the industry long before today still pose challenges, too. For example, racial segregation remains prevalent in the service industry, contributing to income disparities between white and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) workers. Casual dining restaurants tend to pay lower wages and employ more BIPOC workers; fine dining restaurants tend to pay better wages and employ more white workers. 

Furthermore, BIPOC people work more back-of-house positions and a majority of white people often work in the front, with the opportunity to earn higher income from tips. Relying on tips subjects workers to mistreatment from customers, and the service industry sees higher sexual harassment rates than any other industry. It’s no coincidence that 68% of tipped workers are women, which means gender also contributes to income disparities within the restaurant industry. 

Just like the businesses that employ them, employees face numerous obstacles in the service industry in 2021. For instance, a quarter of all service-industry workers receive no employee benefits, such as healthcare or paid time off. This leaves restaurant employees at high risk of falling into poverty in the event of illness or last-minute emergencies. Additionally, rates of alcohol and drug abuse are higher in the service industry than in any other sector, and workers have less access to resources for recovery. 

The cycle of poverty that restaurant industry folks face must be broken. As service-industry workers struggle to make ends meet, businesses seek dedicated, informed employees. Service! aims to bridge the gap between the two. We exist to serve all Central Ohio restaurant employees, owners, and establishments, with an emphasis on BIPOC, immigrant, women, and LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs and communities.

Our Vision

A world where hospitality is a respected part of our society and culture, and recognized as a critical component of a prosperous and sustainable economy, with equitable workplaces supporting the growth of diverse, educated professionals.

For Service to become part of a nationwide network of advocates, educators and examples of a more ethical and equitable way of operating - from fair food practices to workers rights; to provide the resources that help lay the foundation for an educated, sustainable and respected workforce within the hospitality industry in our city; and operate a social enterprise that represents a holistic framework of how to achieve equity in the hospitality industry, and put it into practice as a living laboratory.

Our Impact

Service! has distributed over $60,000 in direct grants to hospitality workers to address short-term hardships for those who are experiencing a lack of resources to pay for essential expenses. To date, Service! has served more than 10,000 meals to unemployed service-industry professionals and their families.

See how we’ve made a difference in the lives of real service service industry workers in this video.

Our Beliefs

Service! supports, promotes and advocates for hospitality workers. We believe every hospitality worker deserves a living wage, respect, and equity in the workplace. We believe that together we can create an industry where businesses can operate both ethically and profitability, offering a living wage, building a more equitable workforce, and finding opportunities to advance so that businesses and workers can thrive together.

We stand for:

  • Employment based on a foundation of equity, respect, and moving toward living wages

  • Employment in the hospitality industry as a noble, long-term career opportunity

  • The need for all stakeholders - workers, owners, customers, suppliers, community - to work together to advance change in our industry

  • Fair food pricing that is everyone's responsibility and serves as a foundation for the success and sustainability of hospitality businesses and their workers

  • Health care coverage and support for workers experiencing mental health and substance-use disorders

  • An industry that reflects the community its serves, in every facet and at every level

  • Public-private partnerships as a necessary engine of transformation

Our Story

Service! was founded in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic shutdown to help service and hospitality industry workers.

On the day Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine ordered restaurants to close in-house dining services as part of COVID-19 precautions, a slew of servers, kitchen staff, hostesses, bartenders and other service workers suddenly found themselves out of a job. From the quiet of their once bustling dining rooms, restaurant veterans Matthew Heaggans, then of Ambrose & Eve, and his business partner Letha Pugh of Bake Me Happy started bouncing ideas around with Sangeeta Lakhani, then co-owner of The Table. Their initial urge to find ways to help morphed into the inspiration for a new nonprofit venture called Service! Relief for Hospitality Workers.

The group sprang into action, bringing a get-it-done level of energy to the process of launching a new organization. To avoid the bureaucratic paperwork required to form a 501©3 tax-exempt organization, Service! engaged with local group Independents’ Day, Inc., to serve as a fiscal sponsor and get everything up and running. ECDI provided space at the Food Fort commissary kitchen for preparation of the boxed meals. Within weeks, the Service! team was serving its first boxed meals.

The group’s inaugural initiative was a free boxed meal program designed to feed unemployed workers in the service industry and their families. “We needed to do something to help our people,” Lakhani said. “We needed to help the people who got us to where we’re at.”

The boxed meals program quickly took off, with workers making it part of their weekly routine or even stopping by more frequently—often, they came not only for the meals, but also for a little human interaction.

The Columbus community rose to the occasion, as well, flooding the program with donations through PayPal, T-shirt purchases, and the Columbus Foundation’s annual Big Give event. Corporate donors rallied to provide financial support for the fledgling organization, as well.

By the time the free meal program ran its course, as restaurants began to open back to full capacity, the Service! team served over 10,000 boxed meals. From there, Service! pivoted to providing direct micro-grants to service industry workers facing difficulty with paying for healthcare, housing, utilities, education, and other costs.

As Service! continues to evolve, the organization solicits feedback from the service-industry community as to current needs, struggles, and setbacks. From the very first stages, Service! Relief for Hospitality Workers has remained dedicated to fighting for and empowering service-industry workers.

Meet Our Team

100% of our board and organization leadership have made financial contributions to our mission and are committed to our impact and growth

Sangeeta Lakhani

Executive Director / Co-Founder

  • Sangeeta Lakhani grew up in Mumbai, India where she was surrounded by a vibrant array of spices and diverse foods. Being raised in a family of avid travelers instilled in Sangeeta the importance of experiencing many different cuisines across the globe. After moving to the U.S. at the age of 17, Sangeeta studied at The Columbus College of Art and Design, followed by The Columbus State Culinary School. She has been in the restaurant business for over 25 years. Sangeeta was instrumental in the expansion of a popular campus restaurant, Hounddog’s Pizza and the bar adjacent to it, Ravari Room, before co-founding Bodega in 2005. Bodega won several awards over the years from publications such as The Alive, The Other Paper, 614 Magazine, Columbus Monthly, etc. before Sangeeta successfully sold the brand in early 2015. In 2014 she co-founded and created the menu for The Table, a prominent farm to table restaurant in the Short North District of Columbus, Ohio. In March of 2020, Sangeeta leveraged her network to pivot her existing restaurant into Service! A relief effort for hospitality workers. She has since then, put out over 11,000 free meals and writes weekly grants for service industry workers financially effected by the ongoing pandemic. In her role as Executive Director, Sangeeta plans to keep growing Service! to provide resources and training opportunities for service industry workers. Sangeeta plans to keep working within the industry by sharing her knowledge and concept ideas.

Matthew Heaggans

Advisory Board Member / Co-Founder

  • In addition to co-founding Service!, Matt also co-owns Preston’s: A Burger Joint. Trained in DC, his Columbus resume includes Ambrose & Eve, The Rossi and the late, great Swoop! Food Truck. His involvement with Service! stems from a lifelong call to serve.

Letha Pugh

Advisory Board Member / Co-Founder

  • Letha co-founded Bake Me Happy, a wholesale/retail, gluten free bakery located on the southside of Columbus, with a second location in Dublin with her wife, Wendy, of 17 years. Letha is also the co-founder of Preston’s Burger, located in Clintonville, Ohio. She is active in the community with two non-profits: Service! A relief effort for hospitality workers displaced during the COVID 19 pandemic and Black, Out and Proud, an organization that advocates, inspires, and educates the Columbus Black LGBTQ+ community. Letha is also a Commissioner for the City of Columbus Department of Parks and Recreation, Secretary of Board for The Women’s Fund of Central Ohio, and an Ambassador for the Goldman Sachs 10k Small Voices Advocacy Group. Over the last year, Letha has been involved with the development of Café Overlook, a workforce and economic development project, with financial support from the Franklin County Commissioners Office. Café Overlook trains, supports and hires restored citizens and individuals transitioning from public assistance by removing barriers to housing, childcare, transportation, mental health services and uniform support. Café Overlooks’ mission is to assist in developing workforce skills in a population that may need additional support. A recent graduate of the Affordable Housing Trusts’ Emerging Developers Accelerators Program (EDAP), Letha is eager to make her mark in the real estate development world, a passion of hers for years.

Amy Flowers

Chair

  • Amy Flowers is an attorney in Ice Miller’s Workplace Solutions Group. Employers rely on Amy to provide advice that helps them avoid workers compensation and employment challenges and defend them in related litigation matters.

    Prior to joining Ice Miller, Amy served as a bailiff to Judge Kimberly Cocroft of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas for 11 years. After receiving her law degree, Amy drafted decisions and entries for the Judge to review on pending criminal motions, suppression issues, judicial release, post-conviction, jail time credit and other criminal matters before the court in addition to maintaining docket statistics for monthly Supreme Court Reports. Amy also served as a liaison for the Judge and other agencies, court departments, the clerk’s office, litigants, lawyers and other professionals to coordinate court business.

    Amy formerly sat on the Athens City Council. She chaired the Transportation Committee and served as a member of both the Arts & Recreation Committee and Communications Committee. As an At-Large member, Amy navigated the legislative process to turn proposals into ordinances and collaborated with various government agencies and groups to present ordinances to committees.

    Amy earned her juris doctor from Capital University, as well as a Master of Public Administration and bachelor’s degree in political science from Ohio University.

    When not assisting clients, Amy enjoys cycling and competing in Ironman races. Amy welcomes a challenge and knows that to enjoy the bike and run, you have to muscle through the swim.

Rasheedah Crawley

Vice Chair

  • A long-time resident of Columbus, Ohio, Rasheedah Crawley is a communications professional, entrepreneur and local art enthusiast. As an alumnus of The Ohio State University, Ms. Crawley is an avid fan of The Ohio State Buckeyes. Her interest in advocacy is inspired by her own mother who encouraged philanthropy and volunteer work from an early age. Rasheedah used her networking and logistics expertise to create an online advocacy and mutual aid resource born from social action and need for resources in the Summer of 2020. Rasheedah is honored to be invited to join and support Service! as a board member and looks forward to creating meaningful change in central Ohio communities.

Shoshanna Gross

Treasurer

  • Shoshanna Gross is an entrepreneur with a rich background in arts administration and  hospitality. In 2024, she founded Moment Makers, a company dedicated to crafting  premiere meetings and events for non-profit and independent businesses. In addition to  her work with Moment Makers, Shoshanna is the operations director for Paddy Wagon  Food Truck and co-owns multiple short-term rental properties in Columbus. 

    With a genuine love for creating spaces that encourage conversation, community  building, and celebrations of all kinds, Shoshanna thrives on bringing people together.  Before embarking on her entrepreneurial journey, she served as the Events Director for  the Ohio Restaurant and Hospitality Alliance, where she forged strong connections with  Ohio’s vibrant restaurateurs and their foodservice partners.  

    Shoshanna is enthusiastic about the ways restaurants anchor communities and foster  growth for so many of the industry’s workers. She is proud to contribute to the  Columbus hospitality scene as board treasurer for Service! and looks forward to helping  the organization expand the resources and reach it has to offer. 

Nicholas Dekker

Secretary

  • You can call Nicholas Dekker “Dr. Breakfast.” After all, he really loves breakfast and has a Ph.D.

    Nick is a food and travel writer based in central Ohio, writing his award-winning blog Breakfast With Nick since 2007, where he and his family document their journeys exploring restaurants, coffee, donuts, beer, the arts, family travel, and much more. Nick has written for Columbus Monthly, Ohio Magazine, TourismOhio, The Kitchn, Great Lakes Publishing, Experience Worthington, Cubby at Home, Worthington Spotlight, 42+ Magazine. Nick and his work have been featured in the New York Post, Toronto Star, Taste of Home, Good Day Columbus, Columbus Dispatch, and other media.

    For his day job, Nick serves as the administrator for the Greater Columbus Arts Council’s Marketing, Communications, & Events team, assisting with social media, blogging, press releases, media relations, and maintaining a statewide events database.

    Originally hailing from Grand Rapids, Michigan, Nick studied English and Communications at Calvin College. He and his wife Beth were drawn to central Ohio in 2002, where they both completed master’s degrees in Theatre History and Dramatic Literature at The Ohio State University. Nick continued on to earn a Ph.D. in the same subject, and went on to lecture for the Department of Theatre until 2014.

    During that same time, Nick and Beth established the community arts non-profit Wild Goose Creative with four college friends. The award-winning multidisciplinary arts gallery and event space plays host to everything from concerts to workshops, beer tastings to storytelling nights. Nick and Beth remained as active board members through the spring of 2012. Nowadays Nick serves on the board of directors for the McConnell Arts Center and Service! Relief Kitchen.

Wendy Sherman Heckler

Strategic Planning

  • Wendy Sherman Heckler serves as Provost and Senior Vice President at Otterbein  University and is responsible for leading the Academic Affairs division and collaborating  with other members of the President's Cabinet to integrate academic and institutional  operations with the University's strategic plan. She also focuses on outreach to  community partners and the coordination of internal efforts to promote students'  academic success. Wendy teaches a first-year seminar course on women's leadership  and has served on Otterbein's Women's Leadership NET, founded by Otterbein  President Emerita Kathy Krendl. 

    Additionally, Wendy is the Vice President for Undergraduate Education for the Coalition  for the Common Good (CCG), a national education system founded by Otterbein and  Antioch University to address many of the issues facing higher education by allowing  small universities to focus on undergraduate teaching excellence while partnering on a  national scale for graduate and adult education that expands impact, increases student  access, and addresses workforce needs in their communities. 

    Wendy currently serves on the Columbus Women’s Commission, and was a member of  the Board of Communities In Schools of Ohio from 2014-2022 (serving as Chair from  2020-2022). She received the Martin Luther King Peace and Justice Award from  Otterbein in 2017, the Community Support Award from the Columbus City Schools  Board of Education in 2018 and was a 2022 Women for Economic and Leadership  Development (WELD) Calendar Honoree.

Leigh Ann Simms

Resource & Fundraising

  • Leigh Ann Simms is a Healthcare Consultant by day and booze evangelist by night. Born and raised in the Louisville area (Southern Indiana to be exact), Leigh Ann moved to Columbus in 1997 after briefly residing in Cincinnati and founded her Healthcare Consultancy in 2000. Leigh Ann has volunteered for many years including 15 years with the Business Advisory Council at Goodwill Columbus’ Job Development Center creating and teaching a curriculum for front and back office medical staff. In 2017 Leigh Ann worked with The Hardy Center to rehabilitate their afterschool and Summer programs facility in North Linden. In 2020, Leigh Ann was sworn in as a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) volunteer. In 2014, Leigh Ann founded the first non-profit bourbon club, The Bourbon Club of Central Ohio and shortly thereafter created the first bourbon trivia board game, The Bourbon Run. In 2016, Leigh Ann founded Last Call Productions, Inc which includes The Columbus Craft Cocktail Tour, The Columbus Cocktail Classic, various cocktail competitions, fundraisers and cocktail books. Leigh Ann is the host of two podcasts, “If This Bar Could Talk” and "Women and Whiskey, Stop Mansplaining Me". Leigh Ann is also a children’s book author, Certified Bourbon Steward, wife, mother and grandmother.

Malik Malone

Community Engagement

  • As a highly motivated and accomplished business leader, Malik has a proven track record of executing key objectives that drive success from the CSuite to the entire enterprise. His ability to establish and maintain strategic partnerships that produce short and long-term benefits for all parties involved is highly regarded. Malik's skillset includes strong networking and relationship building, which he has effectively leveraged at every level of the organization throughout his career. As a former student athlete at Bucknell University, teamwork and collaboration are deeply ingrained in his DNA and constantly being utilized. 

    Malik's involvement in the local community is equally impressive. From serving on Bucknell's Alumni Board Association to volunteering for several different local causes and even being a licensed high school basketball referee, he is committed to making a positive impact. 

    At the core of everything Malik does, both professionally and personally, is his dedication to developing strong relationships. It's this foundation that has enabled him to gain executive consensus and alignment between internal and external stakeholders, and to achieve success at every turn. 

Emeritus Board Members

Reed Woodgerd

Emeritus Board Member

Lisa Gutierrez

Emeritus Board Member

  • Lisa A. Gutierrez is a restaurant manager turned entrepreneur. She is the co-founder and CEO of Dos Hermanos Taco Truck. Dos Hermanos currently operates 3 brick-and-mortar locations, mobile food trucks, and concession stands in both the new Crew Stadium (Lower.com Field) and inside the Greater Columbus Convention Center. Dos Hermanos offers a fresh way of catering including both mobile and traditional options. Lisa’s most recent accomplishment is launching her public speaking company, Lisa G. Speaks - where she enjoys teaching female business owners how to gain momentum and run profitable business. Lisa currently sits on the advisory board for both the Women’s Business Center, and the Women’s Center For Economic Opportunity. She was recently recognized by the SBA as the 2019 Minority Owned Small Business Person of the Year, and Dos Hermanos was recognized by the ICIC, as one of the fastest growing inner city companies in America, in terms of revenue and job creation. As her business keeps growing, Lisa continues to create jobs in the community, collaborate with other small businesses, and pass on her valuable knowledge to other aspiring entrepreneurs.

Shelley Mann

Emeritus Board Member

  • Shelley first started making connections in the restaurant industry as editor of Crave magazine, covering the Columbus restaurant industry. From there, she launched Umami Consulting, a marketing and public relations company that works with independent restaurants and food brands to help tell their stories more effectively. She has served as executive director of Dine Originals Columbus, a nonprofit organization supporting the city’s independent restaurant scene, and in addition to serving as board secretary for Service! also serves on the board for Independents’ Day, Inc.

Michelle Allen

Emeritus Board Member

  • My name is Michelle Allen and I am the Owner and CEO of Mmelo Boutique Confectioners in Columbus Ohio. Mmelo (pronounced “mellow”) is a food brand specializing in meticulously crafted, scratch-made artisanal chocolates, confections and pastries for the wholesale, retail and corporate space. We cater to a variety of dietary lifestyle choices and endeavor in all areas to build wonder and community around the food we produce. I was born and raised in Columbus Ohio. I went to Ohio State University and in the years since lived in New York, Spain, Italy and England and explored Asia and Africa sporadically throughout. While in New York I was a partner a film production facility in downtown Manhattan called Stable Films and after that, started a commercial production company in Chelsea called Rubicon Pictures. In 2003, after falling madly in love with a brilliant, and hilarious Englishman, I promptly followed him to Barcelona Spain where we lived for 13 years. Spain is particularly significant for me for the amazing life experience it afforded. I learned to slow down in Spain and we had a lovely baby boy named Miles… But it’s also significant because I began to study food science and that education, along with all my travel experience, changed the way I cooked forever. It armed me with some basic skills and gave me the courage to start Mmelo, my fourth business and hands-down the one I love the best! I currently live in Columbus with my husband Paul (the brilliant and funny Englishman!), our beautiful son Miles, now 14 and also brilliant and funny, two cats, Eway and Mariola and a hound named August!

Awards & Recognitions

  • Columbus Craft Cocktail Tour presented Service! with its Humanitarian Award, for dedicating time and talent to support hospitality workers during the pandemic and beyond, at the Columbus Cocktail Classic on Sept. 5, 2021.

  • Short North Alliance named Service! as a Community Partner Honoree at the Short North Gala on Aug. 18, 2021.

  • Columbus Urban League presented Service! with the Empowerment Day Award to recognize Service! for standing up for hospitality workers devastated by layoffs during the height of COVID 19 on November 19, 2020.

  • The Metropreneur’s Emerging Social Enterprise of the Year Award recognizes businesses that choose more than just profit, aligning themselves with missions that provide supportive employment, donate products or profits, and find other ways to give back and make an impact on the local community. Service! was presented with this award at Aspire 2022.

Our Partners