November 16, 2025
Her signature event is the Fried Chick’n & Champagne Secret Supper Experience.
Candi Dailey’s version of hospitality is about more than food. The founder and CEO of Potomac Hospitality Group (PHG) has spent nearly a decade building experiences that honor culture, community, and connection — from Prince George’s County kitchens to luxury dining activations that could sit comfortably beside any five-star destination.
Her signature event, the Fried Chick’n & Champagne Secret Supper Experience, started as a small, heartfelt celebration for local changemakers. Today, it’s one of the DMV’s most anticipated cultural dinners — an evening that blends comfort food, elegance, and storytelling in a way only Dailey could imagine.
“We do a lot of work in the community throughout the year,” she says. “We wanted to celebrate other people and companies doing the same thing. So we asked ourselves, how do we merge the comfort food people know us for with the luxury experiences we also create? And honestly, what’s better than champagne with fried chicken?”
This year’s sold-out Secret Supper carried a “Juke Joint” theme — a nod to the Southern spaces where food, music, and memory once lived side by side. The event took over Hennessy Creek in Brandywine, Maryland, where more than 200 guests gathered for a night that felt nostalgic and forward-moving at the same time.
“For us, the juke joint was like home,” Dailey says. “But honestly, this one was more challenging for our team because these are things people may already be familiar with. So we had to figure out how to elevate that experience.”
The evening rolled out in three “movements,” starting with a bluesy cocktail reception before guests moved across the grounds for dinner. Chef Saon Brice (Food Network, Blk Swan) designed a menu that honored the era while pushing it into fine-dining territory, paired with Ezra Allen’s cocktails from CAnECollective. Later, “The Voice” alum Tamara Jade lifted the energy even higher with a live performance before the crowd entered the juke joint space to dance the night away.
“We’re able to tell stories through food,” Dailey says. “When we work with chefs, we tell them: you have a story to tell, and this is your chance to shine a light on a moment in our history.”
PHG’s dinners have explored themes ranging from Moroccan traditions to farm-to-table cooking, always with an eye on the African diaspora. The juke joint dinner, held in a renovated barn on Black-owned land, captured that duality: honoring the past while making space for the present.
“It was our way of celebrating who we are as a people and how far we’ve come,” she says. “The space was beautiful, but figuring out how to transform it — that was the beautiful struggle.”
Beyond the food, Dailey is intentional about how guests engage with one another.
“There’s power in serving someone else,” she says. “Our dinners are family-style on purpose. When you pass a plate to somebody, conversation starts. You ask where they’re from. And before you know it, you’re building community.”
Sometimes those connections grow into something even bigger. At PHG’s first Fried Chick’n & Champagne dinner three years ago, two guests — a politician and a businessman — met at the table. They later partnered on a $90 million development project in North Carolina.
“That’s not to say that happens at every dinner, but it goes to show you the true power of connection, right?” Dailey says.
Dailey and her husband, Jason, launched PHG in 2016. Today, the company has 42 employees and a footprint that reaches far beyond its Prince George’s County roots.
“When one of our employees buys a house or sends their child to college, I’m really happy,” she says. “It means as a business model, we’re doing something right. People depend on the work we’re doing — and that keeps us going.”
For Dailey, hospitality is in her blood. She traces it back to the tables of her childhood, her father plating mac and cheese, fried chicken, and all the fixings for anyone who needed a meal.
“Some of my first real memories are soul food and the art of hosting and taking care of people because my dad and grandmother were always cooking for people in the neighborhood,” she remembers. “My core memories are those things, serving people and then food. I’m very fortunate I get to do what I always was around since I was a kid.”
PHG puts that same spirit into the community it serves. The group supports local schools, leads gardening programs, hosts a Senior Friendsgiving dinner each year, and throws one of the area’s most beloved cultural events: Ruby’s Family Reunion, named after Dailey’s grandmother. For just $20 a ticket, nearly 20,000 people gather each summer to celebrate with food, music, and family.
“I hope people realize it’s more than just about serving food,” Dailey says. “It’s about really making an impact. Our goal is to serve for the greater good — through food and storytelling.”
As PHG approaches its tenth anniversary, Dailey is already planning the next chapter. In 2026, Fried Chick’n & Champagne will expand to California, with plans to host a Secret Supper experience at a Black woman–owned resort and winery near Sacramento. Additional dinners are slated for Martha’s Vineyard during Black Film Festival Week.
“We’ve already got four on the calendar, along with all the other events we do,” Dailey tells BLACK ENTERPRISE.
Beyond 2026, Dailey remains clear about what she hopes th elong-term legacy will be for her business.
“The legacy is that we care,” Dailey tells BE. “We’re making people feel good through food, through connection, through culture. I hope at the end of the day, people are saying we do these amazing events that are intentional about celebrating who we are as a people, through food and how we help connect the dots for others. I would love for that to be our legacy.”
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