Watching celebrity chefs interact on television, you might be inclined to think that not only
do they all know each other, but that they also have genuine affection for one another.
While that isn't always exactly the case, sometimes, it's exactly how it is. And that
goes double for the celebrity chefs you see amiably joking with one another on the Food
Network.
As chef and culinary competition judge Antonia Lofaso told Mashed during an exclusive interview
about "Restaurant Reboot," which she co-hosts with celebrity chef Guy Fieri,
"All of us that are in sort of the Food Network world are like a little family."
Lofaso was referring in part to the fact that she, Fieri, Alex Guarnaschelli, and other
Food Network stars enjoy spending time together outside of work. But what Lofaso was really
getting at was that all that time spent together out of the kitchen has served to cultivate
an abiding closeness and understanding between them.
Often, that closeness and understanding is part of what makes the Food Network's programming
so compelling. Chefs, judges, and contestants interacting in a considerate and respectful
way can be a breath of fresh air for viewers who are used to cooking shows that are more
detached in their approach.
It's also why shows like Fieri's "Restaurant Reboot" are even possible, let alone successful.
In fact, it was a single, emotional moment that happened between Antonia Lofaso and Guy
Fieri — a private moment between friends — that may have planted the seed that ultimately
grew into both the documentary "Restaurant Hustle" and "Restaurant Reboot." Both projects
aimed to help restaurants bounce back after the hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Back in March 2020, before the harsh realities of what a pandemic-related lockdown really
meant had become apparent to many, the restaurant industry was already reeling. Lofaso had to
suddenly close one of her three L.A. restaurants and reduce hours for her staff. The chef was
sitting in one of her other two restaurants, Scopa, bagging groceries. She and her remaining
restaurant staff were putting together packages for people for whom leaving home for any reason,
let alone going into a grocery store, would have presented too high a risk. In the midst
of all of this chaos and uncertainty, Lofaso's phone rang with a FaceTime call from Guy Fieri.
Fieri sometimes likes to FaceTime with Lofaso as kind of an inside joke, because he knows
about what she called her "weird obsession with FaceTime," Lofaso explained to Mashed.
Lofaso picked up the phone and promptly broke down in tears.
"I saw his face and heard his voice. He's like, 'Sister, what's going on?' I just started
crying."
It was a single moment between Lofaso and Fieri, chef to chef, but it was also an emotional
one, friend to friend. The FaceTime conversation must have deeply affected Fieri, given what
he did immediately after.
By the next morning, Fieri sent Lofaso a text to inform her he had set up a meeting with
Courtney White, the head of Food Network. By that afternoon, the documentary "Restaurant
Hustle," which ended up being a sort of prequel to "Restaurant Reboot," had been greenlit.
Lofaso explained,
"So, I think that when he saw me on FaceTime and I was crying, it was like there was the
thing where he'd be like, 'We should record this.'"
Even when Lofaso expressed her skepticism about starring in a documentary while so many
restaurant workers were without jobs, Fieri knew it was the best decision she could make,
including for her staff. Fieri explained just how powerful it would be for the world to
see the documentary, and once it was a "go," her reservations evaporated.
"Now, looking back at it, I'm like, this is a part of history."
Lofaso now sees the project as Fieri figuring out a way to let the public at large know
what was going on in the restaurant industry in 2020, and make food service employees feel
supported. And that, as far as Lofaso is concerned, is "the biggest thing that's happened over
the last year and a half" in the restaurant industry.
"We all rallied behind each other in a way this year we've never seen before."
If you haven't yet seen "Restaurant Hustle 2020: All On The Line," you can catch it on
Food Network or Discovery+. To see more of Antonia Lofaso, you can watch her co-hosting
LendingTree's "Restaurant Reboot" with Guy Fieri, which is streaming on more than 20
platforms.
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