Chef Joey Fecci
The Nashville restaurant community is still reeling from the sudden unexpected death of former Yolan chef Joey Fecci after he collapsed during the April 27 Rock n’ Roll Marathon. He later died at a hospital. Fecci worked under the tutelage of chef Tony Mantuano, and was doing some extraordinary cooking at Yolan since the restaurant opened in 2020. He impressed diners, including me during a fantastic meal last summer.
Fecci had previously worked at prestigious restaurants like Spiaggia and Per Se, and according to his LinkedIn page had recently begun freelancing as a private chef and consultant.
Since Fecci’s passing, the community has organized a few initiatives to honor his memory, including a group of friends who gathered at the spot in Shelby Park where the young chef collapsed just a few miles short of the finish line. After a moment of silence, the assembled group symbolically finished the run for him, covering the final miles to Nissan Stadium. In Fecci’s home of New York, his mother also took part in the memorial run by hitting the road at the same time as the Nashville crew.
Friends and family have also come together to set up a GoFundMe campaign to establish the Chef Joey Fecci Memorial Culinary Scholarship Fund. With a goal of $110,000, the fund has already surpassed $100K in donations and support is still being accepted at the campaign’s website, which promises that funds will be used to “support aspiring chefs who wish to follow in Joey's footsteps and carry on his legacy of culinary excellence.”
