Jamie McAfee, longtime executive chef and general manager at Pine Bluff Country Club, recently accepted a position as executive chef at Pleasant Valley Country Club. McAfee said his goals are to pass on his training and education to up-and-coming chefs at the club, as well as cater to the club’s members.
I’m looking forward to change,” he said. “Pine Bluff has 350 members. Pleasant Valley has 1,100, and I know every member in Pine Bluff Country Club personally. My goal is to know every member and their wants and dislikes at Pleasant Valley, and if I achieve that, then we can achieve putting out the proper menus and the proper product for them to be happy.”
McAfee, who has worked at Pine Bluff Country Club more than 20 years, said getting to know the members on a personal level has allowed him to better serve them, and he plans to use the same technique to make Pleasant Valley Country Club a destination for dining in Little Rock.
“Pleasant Valley is pretty well in the same situation that Pine Bluff was 22 years ago, and the opportunity there to give their membership what they want is really exciting,” he said.
A full-time professor at the University of Arkansas – Pulaski Tech Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Institute in Little Rock, McAfee said he became interested in Pleasant Valley Country Club after taking some students to assist during the 2024 Simmons Bank Championship.
“I was impressed with their facilities, and I was impressed with their current staff, and you know, one thing just led to the other,” he said.
He added that he has requested that the current staff remain intact so that he can train them to the highest standards of food service and mentor those who hope to become certified chefs. He also plans to give UA-PTC graduates opportunities for internships at the club.
My whole goal is to train executive chefs to leave there and to take executive chef jobs everywhere so they can better themselves,” he said. “They have a great crew; they just need a little direction, and they need a little encouragement and somebody who believes in them.”
A second-generation chef, McAfee graduated from the University of Memphis Kemmons Wilson Culinary Institute and worked under renowned New Orleans chef Paul Prudhomme. He is a member of the American Academy of Chefs and one of only about 1,500 members of the World Master Chefs Society.
My No. 1 goal for the future is to further the education of Pleasant Valley chefs,” he said. “I want to continue my education as far as knowledge on how to educate future chefs, and my legacy is I want to touch as many lives culinary-wise as I can.”
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