Ellen Yin
High Street Hospitality | Philadelphia
FEBRUARY 2024
Ellen Yin has been playing the long game. Starting in restaurants at a young age, she developed a love for the industry and set out to make a career in it as she left New Jersey for the University of Pennsylvania. In 1997, after earning an MBA from the Wharton School of Business, she opened her first restaurant, Fork, which grew to be a Philadelphia institution for over 25 years. Throughout the restaurant’s history, Yin has sought out and brought in creative chefs, such as Rising Stars alums Eli Kulp and Terence Feury, to lead the kitchen and help keep the restaurant on the cutting edge. After the success of Fork, Yin founded and began to grow High Street Hospitality Group, which now also includes High Street Restaurant & Bakery, a.kitchen+bar, High Street Hoagies, and a pop-up called The Wonton Project.
She and her restaurants have garnered many awards: Yin was named “Outstanding Restaurateur” in the 2023 James Beard Awards; High Street was honored as one of Bon Appetit’s “Best New Restaurants” in 2014; and a.kitchen and a.bar were named some of Wine Enthusiast’s “50 Wine Restaurants We Love.” It is about more than accolades and attention, though, for Yin. She uses her many ventures to highlight the group’s chefs, bakers, and sommeliers and to support her surrounding community. A pioneering figure in the Philadelphia dining scene, Yin serves on the board of several national and local community organizations, like the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation, and as a co-chair of Philadelphia’s Sisterly Love Collective.
