Industry Vet Kendall Duffie Shows Off His Culinary Expertise

Even among the award-winning recording artists and filmmakers that marketing exec Kendall Duffie promotes, he is known as somewhat of a Renaissance man. In addition to co-owning top entertainment marketing firm D3 Entertainment Group and the Vibe Room recording studio with his sister Michelle and twin brother Clyde, Duffie’s accomplishments also include music producer, recording and mixing engineer, A&R director, Billboard-charting songwriter and recording artist (Smooth R&B group Kloud 9), deep sea diver and vegan chef.

Now, with the encouragement of his entertainment industry peers, family and fans like Grammy winning Gospel legend Yolanda Adams endorsing his delicious vegan creations, Duffie is set to unveil a new dining experience in his hometown of Nashville, Tennessee–Deep Sea Vegan.

On June 15, 2019, Duffie will launch his Deep Sea Vegan brand with a special pop-up restaurant event to be held at East Nashville’s trendy BE-Hive Vegan Store & Deli, located at 2414 Gallatin Avenue. The BE-Hive will close its regular service at 4 p.m. CT that afternoon, and two hours later, the venue will be transformed into Deep Sea Vegan. From 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. CT, diners will be treated to some of the tastiest food on the planet.

“I’m not trying to convert people to veganism,” Duffie notes. “But I am trying to educate people about the health benefits of a plant-based diet. And I’m trying to dispel the myth that a vegan diet is not tasty. There are literally thousands of edible plants, with an incredible variety of tastes and textures. And best of all, the food is delicious!”

Duffie started his own journey toward a vegan diet for health reasons. “I had gained a lot of weight, my blood pressure was through the roof and my cholesterol was way too high,” he confesses. “I realized I needed to pursue a healthier lifestyle. I started eating a vegetarian diet, then went vegan. My cholesterol dropped, my blood pressure leveled out, and I lost weight–all very positive things.”

Duffie, a certified advanced deep sea diver and self-taught chef with a loyal following among his family and friends in the entertainment industry, began to develop his own vegan recipes. Many of them replicate the taste and texture of his favorite seafood dishes, including such items as his “Deep Crab Burger” and “Deep Sea Fish Sandwich,” among others.

“I’m pretty creative, so I decided to combine my passions–that’s how Deep Sea Vegan was born,” he says. “I decided to make it a pop-up restaurant because I’m a busy guy. I travel a lot for business, so the concept of a pop-up restaurant just made so much sense to me. It avoids the requirement for a fixed, brick ‘n’ mortar establishment, and allows me to be flexible on when and where I want to ‘pop-up.'”