Churchill Downs

2024 Kentucky Derby Dining by the Numbers

"For the 150th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs Racetrack I describe a massive, multi-day culinary operation: Derby Day is May 4 with Champions Day kicking off May 1, the track can host about 165,000 guests around the racetrack and Levy is overseeing food service for hundreds of thousands across Derby Week. I learned that more than a thousand cooks and a kitchen staff of roughly 1,500 (plus 100 executive chefs) are preparing huge quantities—about 20,000 desserts, 10,000 pounds of smoked brisket, 9,000 pounds of shrimp, 1,000 pounds of cheese, and over a thousand pounds of mint for Mint Juleps—while roughly 20,000 bottles of Woodford Reserve and 24,000 Old Forester Mint Julep Bourbon Cocktails are expected to be used. The signature, trackwide menu mixes spring-forward, plant-forward and nostalgic items and includes a green pea pasta salad, a Bibb Salad with bourbon-poached pear and herb buttermilk dressing, nduja shrimp pasta, and brisket burnt ends with a Woodford cherry bourbon demi-glaze; there will also be collectible mint julep cups and a special $150 Old Fashioned for the anniversary. I note a strong emphasis on local sourcing—Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese in mac and cheese, Weisenberger’s grits, Smoking Goose charcuterie, nearby pork and many products sourced within a 100-mile radius—to highlight community producers while trying to give both longtime attendees and first-timers an exclusive, memorable food and beverage experience." - Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner