The LEE Initiative is an acronym for Let’s Empower Employment.
Our Mission
When we see a need for more diversity, equity, sustainability, and compassion in the restaurant industry, we will find innovative and impactful solutions.
We will create programs that make a real difference in the lives of the next generation of restaurant industry professionals.
We help our community and inspire others to get involved.
Our Backstory
We started The LEE Initiative in Louisville, KY in 2018 after we saw a need for a more diverse, compassionate, sustainable, and equitable restaurant industry. We wanted to redefine what it means to give back to our local community based on our research, our experiences and most of all, our instincts. We are in the business of hospitality, helping people, and solving problems. We put the needs of our guests first. So why should it be any different when we approach the complex social issues that arise in the restaurant industry?
Our Founders
Lindsey Ofcacek
Co-founder
The LEE Initiative
Lindsey Ofcacek launched The LEE Initiative with Chef Edward Lee in 2017 to address issues of diversity and equality in the restaurant industry. Ofcacek has created several programs under the organization’s umbrella, including the Women Culinary and Spirits Program, Restaurant Workers Relief Program, Restaurant Reboot Relief Program, and Culinary Education Program.
Beyond these programs, Ofcacek has managed and overseen a bevy of relief work from The LEE Initiative in recent years: the distribution of over 2 million meals at relief centers nationwide, over $1.5 million invested in small farms, and over $3 million in grants given to Black-owned food businesses through the Black Kitchen Initiative, a partnership with Southern Restaurants for Racial Justice and Heinz. In 2021, Ofcacek and Chef Lee both won the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award for their work with The LEE Initiative. The organization has also been recognized in publications such as The New York Times, Food & Wine, Forbes, Bon Appetit, Robb Report, and more.
Prior to starting The LEE Initiative, Ofcacek has worked in almost every part of the food business, from farming and distribution to cooking and managing. Ofcacek was the General Manager and Wine Director at 610 Magnolia, running the award-winning wine program at the restaurant. In 2012 Ofcacek helped open Decca, working as the Front of House Manager and then Events Manager. She has devoted years of tireless work in the local food community. When she’s not working, she enjoys spending time with her partner and two sons, listening to records, and hosting Southern-inspired dinner parties.
Chef Edward Lee
Co-founder, Creative Director, Mentor
The LEE Initiative
Edward Lee is the Chef/Owner of 610 Magnolia in Louisville, KY and the Culinary Director for Succotash in National Harbor, Maryland and Succotash Prime in Penn Quarter, DC.
Chef Lee was the recipient of the 2019 James Beard Foundation Award for Writing for his book Buttermilk Graffiti: A Chef’s Journey to Discover America’s New Melting Pot Cuisine. He is also the author of Smoke & Pickles: Recipes and Stories from a New Southern Kitchen (Artisan Books, May 2013). Lee has been a six-time finalist for the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Southeast. In 2018, Food & Wine Magazine named 610 Magnolia one of the country’s most important restaurants of the past 40 years. The Michelin Guide DC awarded Succotash a Bib Gourmand in 2019.
Chef Lee appears frequently in print and television and his writing has been featured in The New York Times, Esquire, Food & Wine and many other national publications. He was nominated for a daytime Emmy for his role as host of the Emmy-winning series, Mind of Chef on PBS. He has hosted and written a feature documentary called Fermented.
In 2018, Chef Lee launched The LEE Initiative, which works to bring more diversity and equality to the restaurant industry. In 2020, the relief efforts of LEE Initiative has totaled more than $5 million of direct aid and has been recognized as one of the foremost organizations helping restaurant workers and farmers during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Chef Lee won the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award for his work with The LEE Initiative.
For more on Chef and his projects visit ChefEdwardLee.com
Our Staff
Our Board
