Ever since I can remember I have always maintained an affinity for the small, intimate fine dining setting. Wanting to escape the harsh New England winters, my family and I set out to find an Inn in the mountains of North Carolina to take over and make our own. The problem was that finding a place in Asheville seemed viable but potentially very expensive. Then one day my father found Stoneridge on a Bed and Breakfast broker site. We went to visit and immediately fell in love with Lexington and all it had to offer. All the possibilities were there except having an operational/popular restaurant meant we would have to widen the quaint one lane road to two lanes, allowing cars to come and go. So, not long after we moved to the area and took over Stoneridge, I went back into the restaurant business in February of 2003 as the sous chef at the Willson-Walker House, a fine-dining restaurant in the heart of Lexington, Virginia.

While at Willson-Walker, the restaurant did exceedingly well, receiving local, state and national recognition. However, there was still the drive to do something more. I came up with the idea of starting a catering company out of our family’s Inn, Stoneridge. The thought was that a catering company would allow us to have special events at the Inn as well, circumventing anything pertaining to the one lane road rule.

The catering idea took shape and in March of 2005 I left the Willson-Walker House. The company hit the ground running. As a bonus, not working in the restaurant and the flexibility of a catering company schedule allowed me to offer dinner to our guests at the Inn. The menus were seasonal and usually a 4 course meal. Offering dinner at the Inn was some of the best food I have done and I am very proud to have done it. Once the catering business really started to take off I had to stop doing dinners at the Inn because the catering events usually conflicted with a standard dinner time.

As with all businesses, the catering company has had its share of ebbs and flows with the economy. In 2015, a personal and spiritual experience rekindled my enthusiasm, drive and commitment. Since then, we have reinvested in ourselves, pushing harder every day to be better, continuing to learn daily, becoming more involved with the community and being a part of something bigger than ourselves. Giving back and helping those in need is very rewarding on many levels.

Since 2015, we have humbly received local and state recognition on both business and personal levels.