Hearthside Chat: Family Businesses

Tuesday, October 13 | 4:00 - 5:00 pm ET | Via Zoom

What does it take for a family business to thrive across generations?    

Join Amy Guittard of Guittard, Niki Russ Federman of Russ & Daughters, and Wilson Tang of Nom Wah Tea Parlor for a candid conversation about what it means to honor tradition while meeting the needs of a changing world.  

From growing up in the business to stepping into leadership, our panelists will share stories of preserving what makes their businesses special while adapting to new opportunities, evolving customer expectations, and an ever-changing operating environment.   

Moderating the conversation is Guild Board member Apollonia Poilâne of Paris's renowned Poilâne bakery, who shares her own perspective as a leader of one of the world's most celebrated family bakeries.  

This is a rare opportunity to hear from the people shaping the future of these iconic family businesses. 

ABOUT THE PANEL

Amy Guittard, Chief Marketing Officer at Guittard Chocolate Company, is the great-great-granddaughter of the company's founder and a fifth-generation member of the family business. She serves on the Chocolate Council for the National Confectioners Association; works closely with the World Cocoa Foundation; and regularly travels to origin to meet with farmers, buyers, and traders. Her mission is to translate the craft, science, and human stories behind chocolate for culinary professionals and chocolate lovers everywhere. She lives in San Francisco, California.

Niki Russ Federman is the fourth-generation co-owner of Russ & Daughters and co-author of the 2026 James Beard Award nominated cookbook Russ & Daughters: 100 Years of Appetizing. At the age of 27, Niki chose to return to the shop in which she grew up. Together with her cousin, Josh, she has grown Russ & Daughters into what it is today, while preserving its cultural and culinary legacy. Russ Federman has been featured in The Sturgeon Queens, the award-winning documentary about Russ & Daughters; television shows such as Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi and Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations; and publications including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Food & Wine, Zagat, Vogue, and W Magazine. She was inducted into the Manhattan Jewish Hall of Fame and has an encyclopedic entry in the Jewish Women’s Archive.

Photo of Niki Russ Ferderman by Dani Case.

Wilson Tang is the Owner and CEO of Nom Wah Tea Parlor, New York City’s oldest dim sum restaurant, which has been a Chinatown institution since 1920. The son of Chinese immigrants who worked in the restaurant and bakery industry, Wilson grew up helping in his family’s businesses before earning his degree from Pace University and pursuing a career in finance. In 2011, he left finance to take over Nom Wah from his uncle. Since then, Wilson has helped preserve and build upon the restaurant’s rich history while expanding the Nom Wah legacy to locations in Manhattan, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, and China. He is also the co-author of The Nom Wah Cookbook, which celebrates the restaurant’s history and beloved recipes.

IN CONVERSATION WITH:

Apollonia Poilâne has been described as a “fierce defender of a magical tradition and also a brave innovator for a new era.” The precocious inheritor & leader of Paris’s most iconoclastic and celebrated bread bakery, Apollonia Poilâne stands at the helm of baking tradition that has been chartering new frontiers for three generations and is a singular authority in the world of bread.