Every day, we at Restaurant Hospitality cover the work of chefs and restaurant operators. But there’s a whole other group of people out there changing the industry: founders and entrepreneurs. So we set out to identify 10 who are having an impact right now.

Some of these names and faces will be familiar to you, and those people continue to deserve our recognition for the work they do. We’ve included founders of restaurant groups, sure, but also folks who have founded technology companies that have made operators’ lives easier, and associations working toward gender equity in hospitality.

This is far from a comprehensive list, so after you’ve gotten to know the 10 founders and entrepreneurs in this gallery, come back to Restaurant Hospitality next month to see who our readers nominated as worthy of our recognition.