Chefs

Before getting into the oyster industry, Trey McMillan spent 15+ years carving out a successful career as a professional sportfisherman. During that time his fishing career took him up and down the East Coast and throughout Central America and the Caribbean where he brought his signature fishing style (and beard) to billfish tournaments at every stop. Despite all of the travel, Trey always kept one eye firmly on his hometown of Charleston, SC where he grew up fishing, shrimping, and crabbing in and around Mt. Pleasant’s Old Village.

During the holidays in 2015, Trey got the chance to tour an oyster farm in the Chesapeake Bay and the gears started turning. Long story short, the idea stuck and two years later Trey decided it was time for the next phase in his life. Trey founded Lowcountry Oyster Co. in late 2017 and officially started oyster sales in May of 2018.

Trey now serves as the president of The South Carolina Shellfish Growers Association, and is South Carolina’s state rep for the East Coast Shellfish Growers Association. He is also an active board member for the Coalition for Sustainable Aquaculture where he lobbies in DC for the progression of aquaculture practices.

The Lowco farm is located about 34 miles south of Charleston in the ACE Basin Wildlife Refuge. They use a sustainable, floating-cage oyster farming system to raise the oysters from 1mm seed to 3-inch single, select oysters. You can find their briny “Lowcountry Cups” on raw bars throughout the Lowcountry and the southeast all year long thanks to new regulations in South Carolina allowing for Summer oyster sales as of 2018.

Jason Stanhope is Chef and Partner at Sullivan’s Fish Camp on Sullivan’s Island in Charleston, SC.

Born and raised in Topeka, Kansas, Stanhope grew up in a family where the ritual of cooking together was an important part of everyday life. He stayed close to home after high school, attending Washburn University and playing for the school’s Division II football team. Stanhope quickly realized his passion lay with food rather than on the field and moved to San Francisco to attend Le Cordon Bleu. After graduation, he spent a few years working in Peru with the Orient-Express Hotel Group under chef Michael Raas, who first taught Stanhope the importance and beauty of high-quality ingredients. Stanhope returned to Kansas in 2005 and joined James Beard Award-winning Chefs Michael Smith and Debbie Gold at 40 Sardines as Chef de Cuisine.

Stanhope came to call Charleston home by chance. He fell in love with the city’s rich epicurean history while on vacation and began looking for job opportunities soon after. Stanhope moved east in 2008 to join chef Mike Lata and his team at FIG, the restaurant that helped introduce Charleston to farm-to-table cooking and garnered national acclaim after opening in 2003. From the beginning, Stanhope and Lata discovered that they shared a similar approach to cooking and ingredients. During his time at FIG, Stanhope grew personally and professionally, and learned the importance of empowerment, timing, and communication. Stanhope joined FIG as Chef-Tournant, worked his way up the culinary ranks, and was named Executive Chef in 2012. He later earned the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Southeast in 2015.

Stanhope left FIG in 2023 and soon after announced his partnership with Method Co., the Philadelphia-based developer and operator behind Charleston boutique hotel The Pinch, to oversee its new restaurant, Lowland. Stanhope led that concept, a Southern tavern serving timeless classics and luxurious comfort food, which gained critical and popular acclaim from locals and visitors alike. In March 2025, Stanhope announced he would join Sullivan’s Fish Camp in what he called “a homecoming of sorts,” stepping into a chef/partner role that allows him to work with a small, local team and prepare food that showcases the Lowcountry’s best farmers, fishermen, and purveyors.

When he’s not working, Stanhope tends to his home garden and chicken coop, supports several nonprofits in the Charleston community, and spends time with his wife and young sons.

Lewis Donald is the pitmaster and owner of Sweet Lew’s BBQ, one of Charlotte’s best local barbecue spots. Growing up outside Cleveland, Ohio, he learned his earliest lessons about food from his grandfather Ray. After graduating from the culinary apprenticeship at The Greenbrier, Lewis went on to work at prestigious country clubs and kitchens across six states. Today he brings those experiences to Sweet Lew’s, where he serves traditional Carolina barbecue cooked entirely over wood and honors the craft and tradition of real Southern barbecue.

Praised as one of the “Ten Chefs of the Millennium” by Food & Wine magazine, Susur Lee remains at the top of his game.

Chef Lee has made numerous television appearances on Chopped Canada, MasterChef Asia, and Top Chef Canada, and has served as a judge on Wall of Chefs, Top Chef Masters, and Iron Chef Canada and America.

With over 10 million followers across social media platforms, his awards and achievements include serving as an ambassador for Canada’s 150th birthday celebrations, receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from Canada’s 100 Best, earning the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Chinese Canadian Entrepreneurs, and being named the first foreign chef to receive The Red Chef’s Hat Award in Qingdao, China.

Chef Lee showcases his signature Southeast Asian and French-inspired cuisine at his flagship restaurant, Lee. For more information about Chef Lee and Lee Restaurant, visit our website at www.leerestaurant.com

Midwest-raised, James Beard Award-winning Chef Chris Shepherd has helped change the landscape of the Houston culinary scene since opening Underbelly in 2012. He built the restaurant to support the Houston food community and its suppliers by buying local and drawing inspiration from the people and cultures that live in the city. Thanks to Chris’ vision and passion, Underbelly was a James Beard Award semifinalist for Best New Restaurant, was named one of the best new restaurants in the country by Bon Appetit and Esquire and was named one of 38 essential restaurants in America by Eater. Chris was named one of the 10 Best New Chefs in America by Food & Wine in 2013 and was then awarded the 2014 James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest.

Chris was a semifinalist for the James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef in 2019 and was named Robb Report‘s Chef of the Year the same year. Chris’ first cookbook, Cook Like a Local: Flavors that Will Change the Way You Cook—and See the World, was published by Clarkson Potter in September 2019 and was nominated for a 2020 James Beard Foundation Book Award. In 2023, Chris launched a TV show Eat Like a Local on Houston’s KPRC-TV, where he tells the stories of Houston’s rich and diverse food and beverage scene. He also hosts an onstage conversation series, Table to Stage, with the biggest names in food and beverage.

Chris began his fine dining career at Brennan’s of Houston, where he spent seven years in the kitchen and then ran the wine program for two. He left Brennan’s in 2006 to open Catalan Food & Wine, which was named one of Esquire’s Best New Restaurants in America that same year.

Chris’ foundation Southern Smoke has distributed more than $11 million directly to people in the food and beverage industry in crisis via the Emergency Relief Fund and provides free mental health counseling to F+B workers.