Food Network Star Guy Fieri is now on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The occasion was momentous for the popular TV chef/host. He is only the third food personality to ever receive the honor, along with Wolfgang Puck and Bobby Flay.
Guy was born in Columbus, Ohio, but grew up rural Humboldt County, California. During high school, he was a foreign exchange student, where he developed his interest in food and cooking. Guy changed his surname from Ferry, back to his family’s original surname – Fieri, to honor his immigrant great-grandfather, Giuseppe Fieri.
After working in restaurants during and after college, in 1996 he opened his first restaurant called Johnny Garlic’s in Santa Rosa, California. Within a few years, he and his business partner had four locations. He has since opened restaurants from coast to coast featuring numerous concepts.
Guy has had a long, stellar history on the Food Network. After winning the second season of The Next Food Network Star in 2006, Fieri was awarded a six-episode cooking show called Guy’s Big Bite. Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, his second series, premiered in 2007, with Fieri traveling the country visiting local eateries. It has been a huge hit and continues to enjoy some of the highest ratings for the network. Ultimate Recipe Showdown debuted in 2008 and aired for three seasons. Later that year, the very busy Fieri debuted with Guy Off the Hook, but the production costs of the project were too high and the show was soon cancelled.
In late 2009, NBC named Fieri as the host of the game show Minute to Win It, which premiered in March 2010 and aired for two seasons. Beginning in 2012, Fieri was a team captain with Rachael Ray in the Food Network reality series Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off, which also lasted for two seasons. A chef challenge show, Guy’s Grocery Games began in October of 2013, featuring four cooks who battle through three rounds. His latest series, Guy’s Family Road Trip, began in 2017.
When accepting his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Guy was quick to thank the people who’ve made his success possible. “I’m surrounded by all the people that made this happen – I’ve got chefs and mentors, friends and fraternity brothers. You name it, they’re here. My dentist is here!”
In addition to his ever-expanding television empire, Fieri stays quite busy and last month even launched his own tequila. The “Mayor of Flavortown” is also a huge supporter of first responders and helping kids. In 2010, Fieri started Cooking With Kids, to teach children about cooking. The foundation also designs and builds pretzel carts to teach kids about food entrepreneurship, which is exactly the business Guy began while still in grade school.
During the California wild fires in last November, Guy personally cooked for first responders fighting the blaze. It was only the latest of many instances where, despite a remarkably busy schedule, plus his family (wife, Lori and boys Hunter and Ryder), when disaster strikes, Guy arrives on the scene with no fanfare, ready to do what he does best – cook. The prior year, during the Santa Rosa fires, Guy set up a makeshift barbecue mess hall and with a team he assembled, fed 5,000 fire evacuees, first responders and military personnel per day. When asked why he was devoting so much of himself to the effort, Fieri responded, “This isn’t a PR stunt, I’m just here cooking. This is feeding people. People need of help and I’m here to help. That’s it.”
