Dupree Catering and Events was started nearly twenty five years ago by Harriet Dupree Bradley. Harriet is a Lexington native whose love for feeding people with gracious service came from her family’s Southern roots. After college, Harriet received a Diploma from Le Cordon Bleu Cooking School and returned to Lexington to continue working in the culinary arts. That was 1985 and shortly thereafter, Dupree Catering and Events was launched.
During her college years, Harriet worked for several restaurants and caterers in town and frequently crossed paths with Eileen McCormick. Eileen had owned a successful restaurant called “The Inn Between” and among other things, had been the executive chef at the Kentucky Governor’s Mansion during the administration of Gov. John Y. Brown, Jr where she supervised all events hosted by the Governor. Soon, Harriet and Eileen realized that they would be compatible and complementary to each other in business and so they joined forces.
Along the way, Dupree Catering and Events has added a staff of wonderful people that contribute to our success in a number of ways. Cooper Vaughan worked for Dupree while getting a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management at Transylvania University. He finished his training with a Diploma from Le Cordon Bleu and enhanced his career with a number of years spent at the Inn at Blackberry Farm, a five-star, nationally recognized hotel in Tennessee. To our good fortune, Cooper returned to Lexington in 2006 and his General Manager responsibilities include event coordination and the training of our staff in the art of five-star service.
Lucy Gardner, is an event coordinator, who holds a degree from Transylvania University in Hotel and Restaurant Management. Throughout her travels in Europe, Lucy developed a love and appreciation for fine food and service that you will see reflected in each event she caters.
Many other people are key to our operations: in our offices, Sarah Fitzgerald is our business Manager and Beau Endicott manages Dupree-to-Go, our convenient delivery service of prepared meals. Tony Yalnazov is our head chef and leads a team of fabulous cooks who produce the very best food in the Bluegrass. We all understand that great food brings joy and comfort to others and it is our passion to offer guests the highest level of service possible.