Andrew “Kappy” Kaplan currently serves as the VP of Culinary Operations for the Rachael Ray brand. He is the Co-Founder and Director of Rachael Ray’s cooking and kids charity, Yum-o! He is also the Founder and CEO of Culinary Advisors LLC, a strategic culinary advisory service. Kappy is a partner of Beyond the Plate Tees, a food-inspired apparel line.
Kappy is the Host and Executive Producer of Beyond the Plate podcast- a podcast where he sits down with the world’s culinary elite to explore their journey into the industry and the social impact they have made in their community. He is the Co-Host of a second podcast, along with Rachael Ray, called CookTracks. In each episode, a well-known chef or food personality takes the listener step-by-step through a dish or meal in real time.
Prior to working with Ray, Kappy served as a project manager for the South Beach Wine and Food Festival, overseeing the headline events including Kidz Kitchen and Burger Bash, while also producing the celebrity chef cooking demonstrations. Kappy also provided freelance support in production for additional Food and Wine events, such as the annual Food and Wine Classic in Aspen, Colorado and the Chicago Entertaining Showcase.
Kappy is a professionally trained chef earning a culinary degree from the Culinary Institute of America (CIA); a bachelor’s degree in hospitality management from Florida International University (FIU); and has deepened his background in nonprofit management as an attendee of the Stanford Nonprofit Management Institute.
In his spare time, Kappy serves on the Leadership Council for Share Our Strength and the Advisory Council for Urban School Food Alliance. He is a member of Chicago Public Schools School Food Advisory Group and also spends his time as a founding external advisory board member for the Institute for Hospitality and Tourism Education and Research through his alma matter, FIU. Kappy is a Culinary Industry Expert for the Global Philanthropy Group and an ambassador to the Social Innovation Summit. He has lectured at the CIA/Harvard Healthy Kitchens Healthy Lives conference in Napa, CA, and FIU’s Tianjin University of Commerce in China.
More information on Kappy can be found on his personal Twitter or Instagram: @onkappysplate.
beyondtheplatepodcast.com 