celeb chef guy fieri is a man whose life
journey went from midwestern pretzel
carts to dozens of restaurants
millions of dollars and countless hours
of air time let's take a look back at
guy fieri's head-turning transformation
guy fieri was born in columbus ohio in
1968 but when he came into this world
the name fieri was not listed on his
birth certificate instead it was fairy
which was his family's surname
fast forward to the 1990s long before he
became famous when fieri changed his
last name
it turns out fieri was the actual name
of his grandfather when he left italy
and immigrated to america
the chef changed his name in order to
honor his family as for his childhood
fianni didn't spend much time in ohio
his family moved to northern california
shortly after he was born
nevertheless his hometown has not
forgotten their native son in 2020
thousands of people signed a change.org
petition to rename columbus to flavor
town one of fieri's trademark
catchphrases
as of june 2021 the petition had more
than 130 000 signatures
unfortunately for now you still won't
find flavortown on the map
guy fieri didn't waste much time getting
into the food service business
at the ripe old age of 10 he opened his
own pretzel stand how did this
entrepreneurial venture come about
according to fieri it all started during
a family ski trip
after a day on the slopes fieri told
today that he came home and raved to his
dad about the delicious soft pretzel he
had for lunch
by the end of the trip the eddy's father
suggested that his son should start his
own pretzel business
young fiery went back to the vendor
waited until the pretzel cellar threw
out his box of goods
then went dumpster diving in order to
retrieve the address of the pretzel
manufacturer equipped with a stash of
soft pretzels and a homemade pretzel
cart built by himself and his dad
the eddy started selling pretzels in the
fifth grade and he didn't stop until he
was a sophomore in high school
fiat used his pretzel money to help fund
a year living abroad in france
it was there that fiery truly fell in
love with food and never looked back
the yeti recalls on the moment podcast
the clique went off and i said that's it
i'm a food person that's what i want to
be i want to own my own restaurant
after being fully dazzled by the
culinary scene in france guy fieri's
future was set
from there he quickly went to work
learning everything there is to know
about the restaurant business
fieri enrolled at the university of
nevada las vegas to study hospitality
management
during this time he worked several
different restaurant jobs including
flambe captain
after graduating fieri climbed his way
up the career ladder with a stint at a
stouffer's restaurant before being named
district manager for louise's treacherya
fieri's career took a big step forward
in 1996 when he and his business partner
steve gruber opened their own restaurant
johnny garlicks was an italian eatery
located in santa rosa california
although fieri had yet to turn 30 years
old he clearly knew what he was doing
johnny garlic's proved to be such a
success that the pair opened two more
locations
before he even knew it fieri's culinary
career was off and running
you wouldn't be out of line thinking guy
fieri has been on television forever
in fact it's difficult to remember the
culinary television landscape
prior to the mayor of flavortown's
arrival but every great character has an
origin story and for fiery it all
started by winning a competition show on
the network that would become his home
for many many years
in 2006 fieri was crowned champion of
food network's next food network star
what was the prize for winning the
competition his own show on food network
of course
guys big bite premiered later that year
but all this almost never happened
on the moment podcast fieri explained
that it was his buddies who pushed him
to audition so he finally gave in and
sent in a tape
when the network watched the audition
their first words were according to
fieri
call him get him on the phone now the
rest is television history as fieri has
been a mainstay on food network ever
since
thankfully that won't be changing
anytime soon in may of 2020 fiat signed
a new three-year deal with food network
that will pay him 80 million dollars
according to forbes it makes him the top
paid chef on television
throughout guy fiatti's climb to fame
and his many years in the spotlight he's
been accompanied by his wife of nearly
30 years laurie fieri
by all accounts they have a healthy
loving relationship which makes it seem
like they were destined to be together
but that's not how it appeared when they
first met
it turns out guy and laurie met under
some uncomfortable circumstances
the chef was running a restaurant in
california when one day a recently fired
employee walked in with her friend
fieri told the lish they weren't
supposed to be there i was talking to
lori's friend and saying hey listen wait
a few weeks before
you come in and standing behind her is
this blue eyed blonde girl giving me
this mean mug
coming to her friend's defense laurie
refused to leave guy acquiesced and the
rest is history
lori a rhode island native was in town
as part of her cross-country move to
southern california
fieri later joked she never made it to
san diego kidding aside the television
host gives his better half a great deal
of credit for accompanying him on his
crazy life journey
fieri told the moment to get here you
have to be willing to adapt and
understand
it's all compromise and understanding i
knew as soon as i saw her i just knew
guy fieri's look is as bold as his
flavors and that includes his platinum
blonde spiked hair
in fact fieri's lux may just be what he
is most known for
but believe it or not his hairstyle was
not pre-planned instead it was a
spur-of-the-moment choice by his friend
and hairdresser christina jones
fieri told people i was just kind of
having one of those moods one day and
said just do whatever you want i get
done and i'm like you gonna wash that
out that shampoo
she goes no that's your hair color i'm
like my what while fieri wasn't happy
with the look he had to get to work so
he donned a hat and went about his
evening
while the new hairdo has become fiery's
signature look not everyone is crazy
about it fieri's wife laurie told the
magazine
i always say when are you going to
change your haircut but it's stuck and
it's him
i tease him every once in a while she
added that sometimes she wishes he would
change his hairstyle
and compared it to dyeing her hair black
which is something she wouldn't do for
her husband
for as much of a television star as guy
fieri is his tv shows are just one
component of his culinary empire which
includes
a number of business lines first are his
restaurants since opening his first
eatery in 1996 the eddie has built a
portfolio of dozens of restaurants
his flagship outlet guy fiati's american
kitchen and bar currently has 12
locations across the country and
overseas
with more on the way some of his other
notable restaurants include guy fieri
smokehouse elbourout buracho and guy's
pig and anchor bbq but that's not all
the eddie has been working on
he's also published six different books
since 2008. three of them are based off
of his popular food network show diners
drive-ins and dives while the remaining
three are original cookbooks
if that wasn't enough the eddie also has
his own line of barbecue sauces and
salsas
and a slavertown food line which
includes frozen and refrigerated
products
since winning the next food network star
competition show in 2006
guy fieri has hosted more shows on the
channel than one can count
a short list includes guys ranch kitchen
guys family road trip and guys grocery
games
fieri's most successful series however
has been diners drive-ins and dives
the show follows fiatti as he travels
around the country sampling dishes from
popular local restaurants
it has aired more than 500 episodes and
is still going strong
but the yeti also branched out from his
home network and the kitchen when he
hosted two seasons of nbc's game show
minute to win it and that's not all
the chef has branched out into even more
shows on other networks including rachel
ray j
leno's garage and shark week to name a
few just turn on your television and
fiety is never more than a few channels
away
hello for someone who has been on
television as much as guy fieri it's
only right to have
his place in entertainment cemented
literally that occurred in 2019 when the
tv personality got a star on the
hollywood walk of fame
in doing so guy became just the third
chef to be bestowed the honor
joining bobby flay and wolfgang puck the
ceremony featured a speech from guy's
oldest son hunter fieri who referred to
his father as
you're my best friend my mentor and my
idol and i cannot be more proud of you
also on hand was matthew mcconaughey who
as it turns out is one of the celeb
chef's longtime friends
during his acceptance speech guy made
sure to give credit for his success to
the friends and people around him and of
course
the residents of flavortown the
coronavirus pandemic has taken a dire
toll on nearly every industry
but few have suffered as much as
restaurants and their employees and
while countless individuals have pitched
in to provide assistance
few if any have done as much as guy
fieri on march 27 2020 fieri partnered
with the national restaurant association
to start the restaurant employee relief
fund to provide financial assistance for
food service workers in need
the well-connected chef began by
reaching out to his sponsors telling cbs
news
i started sending out personal video
messages to all the ceos that had any
connection to the restaurant association
pepsi coke cargill keurig dr pepper you
name it the next morning we have a
conference call and they said pepsi just
sent us a million bucks
aided by additional donations from more
than 50 companies and organizations
and 15 000 individuals the restaurant
emergency relief fund raised a
staggering 21.5 million dollars in just
a few short weeks
the fund which provides restaurant
workers with one-time 500 grants has
helped more than 43 000 employees
with this platinum blonde spiky hair
outrageous fashion choices and low brow
catchphrases
it's easy to dismiss guy fieri as not
much more than a goofball
and look i get it i don't want to hang
out with guy fieri either okay
i know he looks like a hot topic manager
moonlighting at a fridays
but for all his silliness you'll be
hard-pressed to find an individual who
has done more to support their community
and other charitable efforts
the ideas work to help food workers
during the coronavirus pandemic is well
documented but his philanthropic work
started long before 2020
a short list of his notable generosity
includes founding cooking with kids
which funds programs that teach kids to
cook
raising money for intellectually
disabled children and in honor of his
late sister who was a lesbian
serving as an officiant for the nuptials
of 101 same-sex couples at a massive
wedding ceremony
one of fiati's most notable ongoing
charitable deeds began more recently
in 2017 as wildfires ravaged northern
california fieri and his team
created a makeshift barbecue mess hall
to feed roughly 5 000 evacuees
first responders and military personnel
per day the following year he was at it
again
teaming up with chef jose andre's world
central kitchen to provide 2 000 meals
and in 2020 fieri stepped up once more
cooking up 2 000 meals of penne pasta
salad and garlic bread to first
responders battling wildfires
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