Arun Upneja (left), dean of the School of Hospitality Administration, interviewed Top Chef star Padma Lakshmi on stage and gave her the school’s 2024 ICON Award during SHA’s annual Hospitality Leadership Summit April 4, 2024.

Awards

$100,000 Awarded to Student Entrepreneurs at SHA’s Annual Hospitality Leadership Summit

Plus, Top Chef star Padma Lakshmi receives the school’s 2024 ICON Award

Laundry is one of the worst parts of “adulting” facing college students. But what if there was a way to make it a little more bougie?

At last week’s $100K Poyiadjis Hospitality Innovation Competition, a team of School of Hospitality Administration undergrads pitched their business idea of an upscale modern laundromat to an audience of judges, potential investors, and industry leaders. Called Laundry Club, the students’ concept calls for modern amenities like app-controlled machines, a café with drinks, and workstations. And their idea cleaned up: their team won the largest prize of the competition—$25,000. 

“Our goal is to change the way people think about laundry day,” said Elysia Suhandinata (CGS’22, SHA’24), who dreamed up Laundry Club with classmates Jose Ison Cassab (SHA’25, CAS’25) and Janice Ang (SHA’25). “It doesn’t have to be a dreadful chore that makes you feel like hours are being wasted.”

The Poyiadjis Hospitality Innovation Competition awarded a total of $100,000 to nine student teams that successfully designed an innovative solution to a real-world challenge faced by the hospitality industry. The final pitches and awards ceremony capped off SHA’s annual Hospitality Leadership Summit, which was held Thursday, April 4, at the Center for Computing & Data Sciences.

Open to teams of two to five members from any school or college (as well as Class of 2023 alums), students were invited to apply to the competition with just an idea. Submissions had to fall into one of three categories: the open track, which welcomed all innovative ideas within the hospitality industry; the social impact track, tailored for ventures that are trying to make a positive economic, social, cultural, or environmental difference within the hospitality industry; and, new to this year’s competition, the student well-being track. This track was for initiatives that promoted the social, physical, emotional, or professional well-being of BU students in partnership with Student Wellbeing at Boston University. 

The 15 finalist teams had access to advisors—professors, members of the BUild Lab and Student Wellbeing, and hospitality leaders—to refine their ideas as they approached the finals. Other ideas included an app to help with subleasing and subletting, a business where people can refill their soaps and detergents, a self-sorting bin that can separate recyclables from trash, and a mental health app aimed at undergrads.

(Find a complete list of the winners in the sidebar below.)

The competition was sponsored by Roys and Donna Poyiadjis, parents of an SHA senior. Roys Poyiadjis is founder of Platinum Capital Partners, Inc., a holding company for the Poyiadjis Family Office, which invests in technology, private equity, and real estate, among other opportunities. This year’s judges were Siobhan Dullea (CAS’91), executive director of Innovate@BU; Robby Bitting, chief of staff at MassChallenge; Janet Goddard, an executive leadership coach who has worked with companies like Pfizer and Coca-Cola; and Robert Vail (SHA’85), senior head of innovation for the Boston Beer Company. 

Kaushik Vardharajan, an SHA associate professor of the practice and director of the innovation and entrepreneurship program at SHA, told the audience he spends nine months of the year planning the annual competition, which launched in 2022. “If you look around the world, the hospitality industry isn’t known for being the most innovative, and that’s something we wanted to change at SHA,” he said. “We said, show up with your best idea and we will help you with it… We wanted a competition where you came in, and even if you didn’t win, you walked away with great ideas, great insights, great learning, and great experiences.”

He said the $100,000 is the largest prize bank of any hospitality competition on the planet. 

The $15,000 grand-prize winner of the social impact track, Idori, was launched in 2021 by Noah Sorin (Questrom’24) as a kids’ books and toy company that seeks to instill sustainable habits in children. The company was doing fine, but Sorin says that a recent part-time job with Boston Outdoor Preschool Network showed him that in-person experiences are much more powerful than books or toys. He was inspired to help parents engage their children and push them outside.

Working with teammates Josh Jana (Questrom’27) and Sakura Kume, the trio envisioned a five-day family camp called Idori Summer Adventures, “where parents and their 3-to-6-year-old children can come learn about the importance of nature through community service and nature-based learning,” Sorin said. 

Introducing the student well-being track to this year’s competition made sense since hospitality is about fostering well-being, said Carrie Landa, executive director of Student Wellbeing. “It is about ensuring guests walk away feeling good about their experience,” she said. “And similarly, Student Wellbeing encourages students to engage in things that make them feel well during their time at BU. This partnership was a way to encourage students to think outside the box, about how they can bring well-being to their peers.”

The inaugural winners were BU Meetup, a social program that helps university students overcome loneliness and isolation by organizing small-group meetups with other students. It was cofounded by William Saunders (GRS’20,’24), a PhD student studying astronomy, and Eric Wellers (LAW’24). Wellers previously told BU Today the group is about “letting people show up and say, ‘Yeah, I’m here because I want to meet people, and you’re here because you want to meet people’—there is no stigma.” They won $5,000.

The full-day Hospitality Leadership Summit conference also featured talks by Bryan Rafanelli, a Boston event planner who has thrown parties for presidents and celebrities, and Bashar Wali, founder and chief creative officer of Practice Hospitality. It also featured a speed networking event. 

The event culminated with Upneja interviewing Emmy-nominated television host Padma Lakshmi, host and executive producer of the Hulu docuseries Taste the Nation and former host and EP of Bravo’s popular competition show Top Chef. After their talk, Lakshmi was awarded SHA’s 2024 Icon Award. 

Their conversation touched on causes important to Lakshmi, such as her work as cofounder of EndoFound, a nonprofit dedicated to raising money and advocating for those with endometriosis, her work in the hospitality industry, her upbringing in India, women’s rights, and more.

Lakshmi said she never expected to work in the food industry, seeing that she was a theater major. She didn’t even realize the hospitality field was a career option, and she said it was a privilege that the SHA students are at school to be trained in the field. 

“I come at food from a very personal point of view, through my writing and my television shows, and I really think what [we] do is not so much about commerce and business, but it’s about welcoming [a] stranger into your space and making them feel cared for,” she said. “At the end of the day I think everyone needs to learn how to do that, even if they don’t work in the industry. For me, hospitality has always been about making it easier for people who you welcome into your home. I’m so honored that you would give me this award and welcome me into your fold.”

To which the dean quipped, “You’re welcome to come to our grad program, either as a student or a guest lecturer!”