Is running a restaurant still a man’s world? Does the woman’s role continue to be that of the attractive hostess who greets diners at the door and escorts them to a table, with no say in designing, ordering, planning, hiring and firing? If you believe that, you’re probably still watching Alice on “Nick at Night.”

Truth is, the restaurant industry has often been considered as good-old-boy as the Teamsters Union. But things are changing. And, while a casual diner may not notice whose restaurant they are actually eating in, chances are it belongs, to, and is run by, a talented woman.

Tara Trevethan owns more than her namesake restaurant, Tara Steak & Lobster House, in Coconut Grove. Trevethan, in her mid-20s, is vice president of TGR Holdings, a corporation with plans to dot the entire state with her steak and lobster houses. “More and more women are stepping up to the plate and being accepted in the business world,” Trevethan said. Granted, she arrived in the business in a family way, working with her father at their first steakhouse on Marco Island. But her father recently died and Trevethan is running the business on her own.

“I had to separate the father/daughter thing,” she said. “And I also had to fight the credibility thing with personnel and the business itself, and to perceived how to run and how to grow with the business. I had to fight being the boss’s daughter.” One of Tevethan’s strengths is her gregarious nature. “ I always seemed to have the knack to interact with any age group and greet the customer.” Working in the kitchen is a bit easier for her. “The food doesn’t talk back to you,” she explained.