Ernie and Willa Royal

Ernie and Willa Royal Memorial Scholarship for Minority Students
Pioneering restaurateurs Ernie and Willa Royal met as teenagers while working as a dishwasher and waitress in a Beacon Hill restaurant in 1935. They married in three years later, and joined forces in their life-long fight for better educational and equal employment opportunities for minorities in the foodservice industry. After Mr. Royal served in the Marines during World War II, the couple opened a takeout barbecue and chicken joint in Dorchester, Massachusetts in 1955. Years later, on vacation in Vermont, Ernie and Willa discovered and bought an abandoned restaurant. Royal’s Heartside Restaurant opened in Rutland in 1963. The seafood restaurant quickly attained national fame. Elected as the first black board member of the National Restaurant Association in 1975, Mr. Royal immediately immersed himself in programs to get more minorities involved in foodservice. During his life Mr. Royal also served as director of the Rutland Region Restaurant Association and international director of the Canadian Restaurant and Food Services Association. In 1987 Mr. and Mrs. Royal sponsored a $150-a-plate fund-raiser at their restaurant to endow this memorial scholarship in order to recruit minorities and fund their culinary education. The Royal’s pledged to match contributions by the 60 people who attended the dinner. The many minorities who have achieved worthwhile foodservice careers are forever grateful for their tireless campaign.