This week's episode of The Sporkful podcast is up! Listen through the player, Stitcher, or Apple Podcasts. (And please subscribe!)
You may think of Guy Fieri as a Food Network star, but he thinks of himself more as a restaurateur. And he's been obsessed with finding success as a food businessman ever since he was a kid. (In fact he was well on his way before he was ever on TV.)
Guy got his start at age 10 -- with a pretzel cart.
The money he earned from that cart helped Guy pay to study abroad (read: eat!) in France during high school.
After that, he got a degree in hospitality and went to work in corporate kitchens. Eventually, he started opening his own restaurants in northern California -- and the rest, as they say, is history.
"This is all I know. I’ve only ever been in the restaurant business," Guy tells Dan in this week's episode.
This week on The Sporkful, we talk food and business with Guy Fieri.
You probably know him from his TV shows -- Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and Guy's Grocery Games. Or maybe you remember Pete Wells's epically bad review of Guy's New York City restaurant.
But did you know Guy has always wanted to open an all-organic restaurant?
"Would I love to have a completely organic restaurant? Yeah," he says. "Can you sell that in Las Vegas? Not in my position, you can’t."
Or that he hates that flaming bowling shirt he's famous for wearing (below)?
"There’s way too much stereotyping. There’s a picture of me in a flaming shirt that everyone loves," he says. "God damn, I hate that shirt!"
Listen in to the full episode to hear what we all get wrong about Guy. (No yacht, no rockets.)
Plus, Guy shares the best business advice he ever got from his friend Sammy Hagar. And Dan asks Guy for advice about getting into the pasta business.
(And be sure to check out Guy's Big Project on Food Network!)
This week's episode of The Sporkful podcast is up! Listen through the player, Stitcher, or Apple Podcasts. (And please subscribe!)
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Interstitial music in this episode from Black Label Music:
- "Diamond Cutter" by Marc Zazzaro
- "Simple Song" by Chris Bierden
- "Saturn Returns" by Kenneth J. Brahmstedt
- "Dusty Roads" by Cullen Fitzpatrick
Photo: FlickrCC/Ana Ulin; and courtesy of Guy Fieri
