Hari Pulapaka is a professional chef and co-founder of Cress Restaurant. In 2017, Hari launched a company, Global Cooking School, LLC. Born and raised in Mumbai, he acquired an Associate of Applied Science in the Culinary Arts from Le Cordon Bleu-Orlando in 2004. Hari is a Worldchefs Certified Master Chef and Certified Executive Chef of the American Culinary Federation with four James Beard Award semifinalist nods as Best Chef-South and multiple Food & Wine People's Best Chef recognitions. He has been recognized as a GRIST 50 fixer for his innovative and active work in the area of food waste reduction and has also been a featured chef at the 2018 James Beard Awards in Chicago. He is currently a full-time, tenured Associate Professor of Mathematics at Stetson University. He is the author of Dreaming in Spice. He is married to Dr. Jenneffer Pulapaka and they live in DeLand, FL.

Dr. Jenneffer Pulapaka, DPM, is a Board Certified Physician Diplomate in Lifestyle Medicine. A trained podiatric surgeon who specializes in diabetic limb salvage, she is the founder of DeLand Foot and Leg Center. A Certified Sommelier, she also has 15+ years of experience in menu planning and event design in the restaurant industry and has been a featured sommelier at the James Beard Foundation House. Along with her professional chef husband Hari Pulapaka, she founded Cress Restaurant and they both live in DeLand, FL.