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It wasn’t until recently that being a chef became a potential avenue into worldwide fame and recognition, but as media has progressed an entire section of the entertainment industry has now become dedicated to watching people talk about and make food. The list below comprises of all the people who capitalized on this type of entertainment and rose to the tops of their field both as chefs and entertainers. It is through both their careers as chefs and the restaurants they own, as well as the revenue they make from the shows they appear on that has resulted in these people becoming so wealthy.
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46. Alain Ducasse Net Worth: $10 Million
Alain Ducasse is a French chef who began interning at the age of 16. Ducasse would go on to work under legendary chef Roger Verge where he learned Provencal methods that he is known for to this day. Throughout his career, Ducasse has received 21 Michelin stars which are the second most worldwide — behind Joel Robuchon, who has 31, and ahead of Gordon Ramsey who has 17.
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45. Aldo Zilli Net Worth: $10 Million
Aldo Zilli has regularly appeared on a variety of cooking shows. His focus is in Italian cuisine, with some of the top restaurants in London like Signor Zilli, Zilli Green, Zilli Café and Zilli Bar. Zilli has also written 10 books throughout his career.
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44. Ayesha Curry Net Worth: $10 Million
Ayesha Curry is an entrepreneur, spokesperson, chef, and family woman. Since 2014 she has worked to establish a brand that accentuates her lifestyle as a loving mother and wife. With a campaign titled “Little Lights of Mine” five years ago, Curry was able to do just that. Curry’s brand, which initially started as a blog series, has ballooned into a multi-million dollar series of ventures. Curry has built a brand of cooking, writing, modeling, and acting to achieve her net worth which is currently estimated to be about 10 million dollars.
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43. Gino D’Acampo Net Worth: $10 Million
Gino D’Acampo was born in Italy and first became a celebrity chef on This Morning. He has also been featured on Let’s Do Lunch, There’s No Taste Like Home and Gino’s Italian Escape. The Italian chef has a chain of five restaurants named My Pasta Bar or My Restaurant. Gino has also written a number of books based on his cooking adventures.
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42. Heston Blumenthal Net Worth: $10 Million
Heston Blumenthal is a British Celebrity chef who is the proprietor of one of the best restaurants in the world. Blumenthal is the proprietor of The Fat Duck, which has three Michelin stars and was ranked No. 1 in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2005. Blumenthal also owns Dinner in London (2 Michelin stars), The Crown at Bray, and The Hinds Head (1 Michelin star).
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41. Buddy Valastro Net Worth: $10 Million
Buddy Valastro is a New Jersey native and is the child of Italian immigrants. Valastro received his first cooking job at age 11 at Carlo’s Bakery with his father. After his father’s passing, Valastro became the “Cake Boss” at his family’s business at just 17 years old. Carlo’s Bakery has locations in New Jersey—Hoboken, Marlton, Morristown, Red Bank, Ridgewood, Wayne, and Westfield — along with Philadelphi, Pennsylvania; Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; New York, New York; Orlando, Florida; Frisco, Dallas, and The Woodlands, Texas; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Uncasville, Connecticut; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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40. Gennaro Contaldo Net Worth: $10 Million
Gennaro Contaldo grew up in Italy and is part of the duo including fellow Italian chef Antonio Carluccio on the BBC Two series Two Greedy Italians. Contaldo is also known for being the mentor of British chef Jamie Oliver.
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39. Jamie Deen Net Worth: $10 Million
Jamie Dean is the oldest son of celebrity chef Paula Dean and runs her restaurant in Savannah, Georgia named The Lady & Sons. Deen also makes regular appearances on Paula’s Home Cooking and has was a host for Road Tested and Home for Dinner with Jamie Deen on the Food Network.
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38. Ken Hom Net Worth: $10 Million
Ken Home is a Chinese-American chef who began cooking at his uncle’s restaurant when he was just 11 years old. Hom previously taught Italian and Chinese cooking classes before joining San Francisco’s California Culinary Academy as an instructor. Hom, who was appointed honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire for “services to culinary arts”, hosted the series Ken Hom’s Chinese Cookery.
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37. Martin Yan Net Worth: $10 Million
Martin Yan was born in China and has hosted Yan Can Cook on PBS-TV since 1982. His father was a restaurateur in Guangzhou, China and his mother was a grocer. He began cooking at age 13 where he learned the method of Chinese barbecue. Yan would go on to receive a Master of Science degree in food science from the University of California, Davis.
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36. Masa Takayama Net Worth: $10 Million
Masa Takayama is a Japanese chef who is best known for his Japanese and sushi restaurant, Masa, which is located in Manhattan, New York City. Masa has won three Michelin stars. Along with Masa, Takayama owns Bar Masa with locations in New York City and at the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.
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35. Mike Colameco Net Worth: $10 Million
Michael Colameco is a veteran of the food industry with 45-years of experience. Colameco is the host of Mike Colameco’s Real Food television show and has been a longtime contributor to a number of top food magazines. Along with being a media personality and author, Colameco worked as a chef at multiple New York City restaurants like Tavern on the Green and Windows on the World.
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34. Ming Tsai Net Worth: $10 Million
Ming Tsai hosts Simply Ming on American Public Television and has appeared on the Food Network’s cooking competition The Next Iron Chef. Ming has a master’s degree in hotel administration and hospitality marketing from Cornell University. He also attended Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. His restaurants focus in East-West fusion. Ming’s most notable restaurants are Blue Ginger and Blue Dragon.
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33. Alton Brown Net Worth: $13 Million
Alton Brown is most commonly known as the creator and host of Good Eats on the Food Network. Brown has also been the host of Iron Chef America and Cutthroat Kitchen. Brown is known for his quirky and unique methods and has won two James Beard Awards.
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32. Paula Deen Net Worth: $14 Million
Paula Deen is one of the most recognizable celebrity chefs and a staple at the Food Network. Deen owns The Lady & Sons restaurant and Paula Deen’s Creek House with her sons, fellow chefs Jamie and Bobby Deen. Along with cooking, Deen has published 15 cookbooks.
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31. Robert Irvine Net Worth: $15 Million
Robert Irvine is a British chef who previously served in the UK’s Royal Navy for 10 years. Irvine is the owner of Robert Irvine’s Public House at the Tropicana in Las Vegas, Fresh Kitchen by Robert Irvine in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Fresh Kitchen by Robert Irvine at The Pentagon. Irvine has hosted Dinner: Impossible, Worst Cooks in America, Restaurant: Impossible, A Hero’s Welcome, Operation Restaurant, All-Star Academy, Guy’s Grocery Games, Chopped: Impossible and Restaurant Express on the Food Network.
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30. Paul Hollywood Net Worth: $15 Million
Paul Hollywood is an internationally known chef who is known for his baking expertise. Hollywood has starred on a number of British cooking programs on BBC and ITV, and has served as head baker at a variety of hotels across the United Kingdom.
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29. Tyler Florence Net Worth: $15 million
Tyler Florence is a chef and Food Network personality (as you will find almost everyone on this list is) who is known for hosting the shows Tyler’s Ultimate as well as The Great Food Truck Race. While he is sure to have brought in significant revenue from hosting these two shows he also is constantly opening restaurants under his own name as well as writing and releasing cookbooks. In 2009 he also opened a small chain of luxury kitchen supply stores which has, as well as his book sales and royalties from his shows been what has accumulated his wealth so far.
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28. Curtis Stone Net Worth: $16 Million
Curtis Stone is an australian chef who cooked under fellow celebrity chef Marco Pierre White at the Cafe Royal and Mirabelle in London. Stone had previously started his cooking career at age 18 at the Savoy Hotel in Australia. Stone served as host of the shows Surfing the Menu, Take Home Chef and My Restaurant Rules.
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27. Eric Ripert Net Worth: $20 Million
Eric Ripert is a French chef who is the proud owner of one of the top restaurants in the world. Ripert’s restaurant Le Bernardin in New York City, which focuses in French cuisine and seafood, has three Michelin stars and has the maximum rating of four stars by the New York Times.
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26. Charlie Ayers Net Worth: $20 Million
Charlie Ayers is the former executive chef for Google until 2006. While at Google, Ayers had a team of five chefs and 150 employees that were responsible for serving 4,000 daily lunches and dinners across the 10 cafes in the restaurants headquarters.
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25. Christopher Kimball Net Worth: $20 Million
Christopher Kimball is a New York native who was born and raised in Westchester County, New York. Kimball made his impact on the restaurant industry by starting Cook’s Magazine at age 29 with $100,000. After selling the company, Kimball would go on to be the co-founder, editor, and publisher of America’s Test Kitchen. The company produces radio shows and publishes magazines including Cook’s Illustrated.
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24. Matthew Kenney Net Worth: $20 Million
Matthew Kenney is a unique celebrity chef because of his focus on plant-based cuisine. Kenney, who attended the French Culinary Institute, has authored 12 cookbooks. Kenney has also worked in a number of kitchens across New York City and has founded dozens of vegan restaurants, along with the companies Matthew Kenney Cuisine and Matthew Kenney Culinary.
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23. Jacques Pépin Net Worth: $20 Million
Jacques Pepin is a French-born chef who has an impressive 24 James Beard Foundation Awards, five honorary doctoral degrees, the American Public Television’s lifetime achievement award, the Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2019 and the Légion d’honneur, France’s highest order of merit in 2004. Pepin, who has authored over 30 cookbooks, has written for The New York Times, Food & Wine, and other publications since the late 1980s.
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22. Sandra Lee Net Worth: $20 Million
Sandra Lee is the creator of the cooking concept “Semi-Homemade” which includes 70 percent pre-packaged products and 30 percent fresh items. She was previously the partner of Governor Andrew Cuomo and was New York’s de facto First Lady until 2019. In 2012, Lee won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lifestyle/Culinary Host for Semi-Homemade Cooking. She has also starred in the shows Sandra’s Restaurant Remakes and Sandra Lee’s Taverns, Lounges & Clubs.
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21. Todd English Net Worth:h $20 Million
Todd English attended the Culinary Institute of America after quitting Guilford College which he attended on a baseball scholarship. English worked in a number of restaurants across Italy and worked under Jean-Jacques Racho at La Cote Basque in New York. English is also the lead chef for Delta Airlines and hosted the cooking shows Food Trip with Todd English and Cooking Under Fire.
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20. Tom Colicchio Net Worth: $20 Million
Tom Colicchio is the founder of Crafted Hospitality which includes a number of restaurants across the United States like Craft (NYC and Los Angeles), Riverpark (NYC), Temple Court (NYC), Craftsteak (MGM Grand Las Vegas), Heritage Steak (Mirage Las Vegas) and Small Batch (Long Island). Colicchio is also known as the head judge on the Bravo TV competition Top Chef. Throughout his career, Colicchio has received five James Beard Foundation Awards.
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19. Guy Fieri Net Worth: $24 Million
Guy Fieri is a wild personality who is the co-owner of three restaurants in California. Fieri licenses the name to other restaurants in New York City and Las Vegas and is widely known for his high-energy hosting on the Food Network. Fieri, who won The Next Food Network Star, is the host of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Guy’s Grocery Games, and has appeared on a plethora of the network’s others shows.
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18. Mario Batali Net Worth: $25 million
He’s a weird looking, crock wearing, allegedly creepy guy, and while all of these things might have destroyed another person’s career, Mario Batali managed to create something of a culinary empire for himself. He is a restauranteur who owns twenty-six restaurants which would result in a significant net worth in itself, but that combined with his multiple shows on the Food Network as well as the various cookbooks he has released is what makes Mario so wealthy. Recently due to sexual misconduct allegations against him, many of his assets have been somewhat frozen, but this hasn’t had an impact on what he has already accumulated.
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17. Rick Bayless Net Worth: $30 Million
Rick Bayless was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and is known for specializing in traditional Mexican cuisine with a modern twist. Bayless was the star of the PBS series Mexico: One Playe at a Time. He also published his own book Authentic Mexican: Regional Cooking from the Heart of Mexico.
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16. Bobby Flay Net Worth: $30 million
One of the most recognizable names on the food network, Bobby Flay has built an empire of restaurants out of his name and brand. Dropping out of high school early to become a chef, Flay started out working in places like pizza parlors and Baskin Robbins before proving that he had an aptitude for the culinary arts. From there his career took off as he went to France to study cooking, and then returned to the states as an executive chef. His drive when it comes to all things food, as well as outgoing personality made him the perfect candidate to host cooking shows, and the fourteen programs he has appeared on since, as well as the multiple restaurants he owns are certainly a reflection of this.
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15. Giada De Laurentiis Net Worth: $30 Million
Giada De Laurentiis is one of the most recognizable personalities on the Food Network. The Italian-born chef is host of Food Network’s Giada at Home, is a mentor on The Next Food Network Star, and also makes appearances on NBC’s Today. Born in Rome, Italy, De Laurentiis was inducted into the Culinary Hall of Fame and is a Daytime Emmy Award winner for Outstanding Lifestyle Host. De Laurentis studied at the famed Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and had dreamed of becoming a pastry chef, but after working in several high-profile restaurants and finding herself in front of the camera more, it was clear that the 47-year-old was destined to be a television star. Along with Giada at Home, De Laurentiis has hosted Everyday Italian, Giada’s Weekend Getaways, and Giada in Paradise among others.
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14. Marco Pierre White Net Worth: $40 Million
Marco Pierre White is considered the first “celebrity chef” and efant terrible of the restaurant scene in the United Kingdom. White is responsible for training fellow celebrity chefs Mario Batali, Gordon Ramsay, and Curtis Stone. At age 32, White became the youngest chef and first British chef to be awarded three Michelin stars.
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13. Levi Roots Net Worth: $45 Million
Levi Roots is a Jamaican-British chef and musician. Roots is the creator of a jerk barbecue sauce named Reggae Reggae Sauce. He previously opened his own restaurant Levi Roots’ Caribbean Smokehouse which closed in 2019. Roots has also written a number of cookbooks and appeared on various reality shows like Celebrity Mastermind.
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12. Vikram Vij Net Worth: $50 Million
Vikram Vij is an Indian chef and author. Rij owns Vij’s Restaurant and Rangoli Restaurant in Vancouver, British Columbia. In South Surrey, British Columbia, Vij owns My Shanti. Vij was also an investor on the Canadian reality series Dragon’s Den for one season in 2014.
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11. Jose Andres Net Worth: $50 Million
Chef Jose Andres owns a number of restaurants across Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Las Vegas, South Beach, Florida, Orlando, New York City, and Frisco, Texas. The Spanish chef is also the chef and founder of World Central Kitchen, which is a non-profit organization that has stepped up to provide meals for communities ravaged by natural disasters. In 2016, Andres was honored at the White House for his work with World Central Kitchen and received the National Humanities Medal.
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10. Ree Drummond Net Worth: $50 Million
Ree Drummond is a food writer and TV personality who lives on a ranch in Pawhuska, Oklahoma. Drummond is a popular food blogger with her blog The Pioneer Woman which has won Weblog of the Year in 2009, 2010, and 2011 at the Annual Weblog Awards. She is also the host of a show on The Food Network of the same name.
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9. Ina Garten Net Worth: $50 million
Showing her business acumen early on in her career, Ina Garten was a budget analyst for the White House before shifting her focus to her cooking. This shift happened when she quit her job at the white house and purchased the Barefoot Contessa specialty foods store that was an immediate success and soon went on to expand seven times its original size. With the success of the store, she went on to publish a cookbook which again surpassed her expectations and became a best seller. Using the newfound fame of the Barefoot Contessa name, she went on to host a show of the same title that became one of the Food Networks most widely watched programs. It is the accumulated income that all these things have brought Garten that make her so wealthy today.
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8. David Chang Net Worth: $60 Million
David Chang is the founder of the Momofuku restaurant group which includes restaurants Momofuku Noodle Bar, Momofuku Ssäm Bar, Milk Bar, and Momofuku Ko in New York City; Momofuku Seiōbo in Sydney; Momofuku Noodle Bar and Kojin in Toronto; and Momofuku CCDC in Washington, DC. Chang is the creator and star of the Netflix series Ugly Delicious.
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7. Emeril Lagasse Net Worth: $70 million
Having one of the most recognizable chef catchphrases ever, it is probably astounding just how much revenue saying the word “bam!” has brought in for Emeril Lagasse. Graduating from culinary school in 1979, Lagasse quickly became an executive chef and was nominated for a chef of the year by 1983. He used this new found notoriety to get on the Food Network where he was featured on ten episodes of Great Chefs. From here he got his own show and has been a featured Food Network host ever since. He owns five restaurants and has put out out ten cookbooks, as well as owning multiple cooking product lines and getting many endorsement deals.
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6. Wolfgang Puck Net Worth: $75 million
Having more than just a really neat name, Wolfgang Puck is an Austrian-born, American chef, restaurant owner and even occasionally does some acting. His main source of income though, comes from the various cooking companies he owns and the restaurants that are under them. The Wolfgang Puck Companies include the Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group, Wolfgang Puck Worldwide, Inc. and Wolfgang Puck Catering and under them are more than twenty fine dining restaurants, multiple catering services, and various other companies that produce cookbooks, coffee and even canned foods. Between this and his multiple appearances on Iron Chef and various other cooking shows it’s no wonder that Puck is so wealthy.
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5. Rachael Ray Net Worth: $80 million
Rachael Ray is an American born chef and businesswoman who initially popularized the concept of “thirty minute meals.” Feeling that many people were unnecessarily reluctant to cook, she started teaching classes about meals that could be completed in thirty minutes or less. CBS picked up on the success of one of these classes and asked her to be featured in one of their segments. From here the Food Network asked her to host the show 30 Minute Meals which lasted for eleven seasons and led to her being featured in multiple other shows as well. This combined with her large amount of product endorsement deals is what has led to her being so wealthy.
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4. Thomas Keller Net Worth: $130 Million
Thomas Keller is a multi-award winning chef with restaurants and has been named Best California Chef and the Best Chef in America by the James Beard Foundation. Keller is known for his restaurant Napa Valley and The French Laundry.
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3. Gordon Ramsay Net Worth: $175 Million
One of the most popular and rage fuled chef out there today, Gordan Ramsay built his television career off of both food and yelling at the people who were making it. He owns multiple michelin stared restaurants and seems to be a success at everything he sets his mind to. His first restaurant ever got three Michelin stars just three years after opening it, and he continued to gain prominence from there. Since then he has continued to open many restaurants, as well as become a television personality, and it is his notoriety in both english and american pop culture that has made his so wealthy from the entertainment business.
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2. Nobu Matsuhisa Net Worth: $200 Million
Nobu Matsuhisa is a Japanese chef and began working at Matsue Sushi after high school. After seven years of working at Matsue Sushi, Matsuhisa was invited to open a Japanese restaurant in Peru. He named his restaurant Matsue. Nobu later opened a restaurant in Alaska, but it unfortunately burned down two weeks after opening. He would go on to work at the Japanese restaurants Mitsuwa and Oshou in Los Angeles, California before opening his own, Matsuhisa.
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1. Jamie Oliver Net Worth: $400 Million
While arguably one of the most well known chefs in America, Jamie Oliver is indisputably so Europe. After getting noticed in a BBC documentary about the restaurant he was working at, the television station noticed Oliver’s talents and asked him to host his own show. From there he released a number one best selling cookbook in the UK and from that point was immediately launched into celebrity chef stardom. His huge net worth comes from two other sources though which is his culinary group that at it’s peak owned 42 “Jamie’s Italian” restaurants, as well as his advertising deal with UK chain Sainsbury’s that used him as their spokesman
