Top Chefs
Lucky Culinary Students Learn From Master Chefs During Kentucky Derby Week
Written by Laura Ross
Photography Courtesy of Pennsylvania College of Technology and Chef Charles R. Niedermyer
With the pleasure of hospitality comes the stress of triple checking to make sure you have all the ingredients for your dishes and the kitchen prep and presentation are always ready for prime time. Can you imagine the intensity of hosting a dinner for 400,000 of your closest friends? These are the number of zeros for which the head of chefs at Churchill Downs must prepare every Derby season. Producing sumptuous dishes and Kentucky favorites throughout Derby Week is a year-round planning process that includes detailed planning, near-military precision in preparation and thousands of hands to help make it happen.
For more than 30 years, culinary students from Pennsylvania College of Technology and the SUNY Schenectady County Community College, along with other culinary school students nationwide, gain incredible experience working the mega event setting that Churchill Downs provides during Derby Week. In that time, they will prepare the food to serve more than 400,000 guests all week, including 150,000 to 200,000 on Derby and Oaks Day. Levy Restaurants at Churchill Downs relies on these students and hundreds of other chefs and culinary workers nationwide who come in for the week to create the best culinary experience possible for Churchill Downs’ guests.
Around 28 Pennsylvania College of Technology students accompanied by eight professional chef staff were selected for Derby Week internships this year following on-campus interviews by staff of Levy Restaurants, which operates dining services at Churchill Downs. The college has participated in the program at Churchill Downs since 1993. “The student Derby internship experience cannot be duplicated at Penn College,” says Chef Charles R. Niedermyer, an instructor of baking and pastry arts/culinary arts, who has accompanied his students to Kentucky for 16 years.
“Penn College is a national leader in culinary education and the fact that we come to one of the top sporting events in the world and impact the operation at the level we do is incredible,” says Niedermyer. “The quantities of food are staggering. We work in tons – thousands of pounds of food every day.”
Most of the students are in baking and culinary arts majors and will work in the “back of the house” in Churchill Downs’ many kitchens while a handful of students majoring in business administration serve the “front of the house,” mixing with the Derby revelers.
The students work 16 hours or more a day, often arriving at Churchill Downs hours before sunrise. The experience, stress and pressure helps them decide if they actually like to work in this type of major high-volume production in the industry. In a single day alone, a student intern might find themselves breaking down 200 lobsters, cleaning 50 racks of lamb, and chopping hundreds of pounds of produce. Every detail must be met with precision, the presentation must be perfect, and the dishes delivered quickly and efficiently to the many dining rooms across Churchill Downs’ vast property.
Niedermyer says all the prep in the world doesn’t prepare the students for the magnitude of Derby Week. “I wasn’t prepared the first time,” he laughs. “I was blown away by the volume and just the energy it took to put out that kind of event. While I’m used to working hard, we move tons of food multiple times. It’s a physically demanding week on top of all the details and the food safety. I must coach and mentor the students because it’s the hardest they’ve ever worked in their life until they get there. We draw them in the fire and see what they’re made of.”
Pennsylvania College of Technology culinary student Felicia Donnie was a culinary intern during the 150th Kentucky Derby in 2024. She made it through the rigorous interview process and was assigned to work in The Mansion at Churchill Downs. She says the learning experience under the many Churchill Downs chefs with whom she worked proved invaluable. “When we arrived at Churchill Downs the first day for our introduction it felt surreal. The chefs taught me new techniques such as allowing your chicken to sit in the flour and marinate overnight, then recoating it the next day for the crispiest bite. I also worked with seafood I’ve never seen before, and I learned how to make many homemade sauces.”
The stress and pressure were real, she adds. “At times I did feel overwhelmed because everything needed to be exactly as my chef pictured it. The days were long, and my feet were very tired by the end of it. When we would leave for the bus, I would walk with my shoes off, but there was so much support from everyone that I never felt too overwhelmed.”
“Levy Restaurants really understand the hospitality industry, and they bring in the best talent from all over the country and the world to delight the guests,” explains Niedermyer. “I’ve had the opportunity to work with cheese carver masters, Top Chefs from the show, master chefs and Iron Chefs like Masaharu Morimoto. I’m just continually blown away by the caliber of the professionals. One of the highlights for me was being in Churchill Downs with Chef Morimoto. I got to carve sashimi with him in The Mansion one year. It’s like a dream.”
Former Pennsylvania College of Technology graduate Patrick Hufnagle made the trip to Churchill Downs three times in 2021, 2022 and 2024. As the current Executive Pastry Chef at the Le Jeune Chef Restaurant on the college campus, he is planning to make the trip again this year. “Each time I have gone I do something different and work someplace new,” Hufnagle says. His first visit was during the pandemic, and he focused on salad preparation and proper portioning due to Covid protocols. His next trip in 2022 was totally different and he found himself working the fourth floor on Millionaire’s Row.
“This time, I was originally working with two different support chefs until the second day one chef was taken to another location, and I was given the tasks that he would have been doing,” Hufnagle says. “In 2024, I had an amazing opportunity to work with several different chefs in one main kitchen prepping different dishes and specialty items.”
The Derby experience helped him see that he could run a kitchen and supervise a kitchen staff. “Getting to feel the accomplishment of pulling off some of the largest catering there is makes it worth going, as is the ability to build great connections with chefs from all over the county,” he adds.
His fellow classmate Luke Whipple is also returning this year for his third Derby experience. “It was a privilege to be part of a massive team dedicated to the service of great food,” Whipple says. “Nothing can really describe how awesome it is to see it all come together. I’ve learned that it’s important to stay calm and that with the right team, the number of people you serve is just a number and it should not be something that scares you.”
“We get to spend a week together with the country’s best chefs,” reflects Niedermyer. “We’re in the trenches, cooking, baking and laughing. It’s a ton of work, but it’s also a lot of fun and a lot of high energy. The students bring a big breath of fresh air for us. The chefs feed off their excitement and enthusiasm to be there.”
This year, student Felicia Donnie is currently enjoying her last semester of college but treasures the experience she gained last spring at Churchill Downs. “It inspired me to work hard so one day I can be the one being served instead of serving. I felt very proud by the end knowing how many guests we served and how successful we were, and I learned how important it is to work as a team especially when serving large crowds,” she says. “I will take that with me into my future career forever.”
The chefs make sure the students take a few moments through the week to actually go outside for a bit and experience the spectacle of Derby Week at Churchill Downs. “The Kentucky Derby is an absolute bucket list event,” says Niedermyer. “I think everybody should go once and experience it because it’s such an amazing spring event. The history of the track, the history of the sport—there’s just a lot of excitement with the food, the beverage and the fashion. I’ve never seen anything that compares.” υ
