Oliver Hotel Oxford names Derrek Long executive chef for kitchens

Derrek Long’s arrival at The Oliver Hotel Oxford puts Kingswood and Nightbird under a new culinary lead at one of downtown Oxford’s most visible hotel properties. For diners, hotel guests and private-event planners, that matters because the executive chef will shape the food, the pace of service and the identity of the kitchen at a 40-room boutique hotel on South Lamar Boulevard, steps from the Oxford Square.

Oliver Hospitality said Long will oversee kitchen operations at Kingswood and the hotel’s food-and-beverage program, including Nightbird. Kingswood already markets itself as a chef-driven restaurant and bar built around seasonal Mississippi ingredients from local purveyors, so the change at the top is likely to show up first in the menu, vendor relationships and day-to-day consistency. In a town where hotel dining competes with a deep local restaurant scene, that kind of leadership can affect whether the property draws more Oxford residents as well as visitors coming in for Ole Miss weekends, weddings and meetings.

The Oliver Hotel Oxford has positioned itself as more than a place to sleep. Oliver Hospitality describes it as a boutique hotel with upscale dining, meeting spaces and balconies overlooking historic Oxford. That makes the kitchen operation central to the business, not secondary to it. A new executive chef can influence how the hotel packages private dinners, event menus and room service-style expectations for guests who want the hotel experience to feel distinct from a standard chain stay.

Long brings a background that fits that wider role. A Guthrie, Oklahoma native, he started working in his family’s steakhouse at 16. He later earned a culinary degree from Platt College and became an instructor there at 21, a path that suggests both hands-on restaurant experience and the ability to train staff. He was also identified in 2024 as the chef leading FLINT at the Colcord Hotel in Oklahoma City after a major renovation, a post that put him in the middle of hotel dining and upgraded guest expectations.

The appointment also marks another step in the hotel’s post-rebrand identity building. Oliver Hospitality bought the former Chancellor’s House Hotel in April 2022, then announced the rebrand to The Oliver Hotel, Oxford in 2023, with the refreshed property covered again in 2024. With Long now in charge of the kitchens, the company is signaling that food and beverage remain one of the clearest ways it can sharpen the hotel’s place in Oxford’s hospitality market.