T
oward the end of the 2020 documentary Restaurant Hustle 2020: All on the Line Chef Antonia Lafso unfurls a “Don’t Give Up the Ship” flag that she passed on to each of her restaurants’ leaders. The flag is an old naval exhortation dating back to the War of 1812, but for Lafso’s team it became a rallying cry for all the work they’d done to keep moving forward and stay open in the face of all uncertainty created by the pandemic.
The documentary was produced and co-directed for the Food Network by famed chef, restaurateur and Emmy-Award winning television host Guy Fieri. The film and its follow-up in 2021, provide an intimate look into what it was like for four struggling restaurant operators during the early stages of the pandemic as they scaled back staff and changed service strategies to survive as cities and states mandated shutdowns and closed dining rooms. But as the chefs and their staff united behind slogans like “Don’t Give Up the Ship,” Fieri worked to set up programs and initiatives that helped restaurants and workers across the country bail water.
Using Fame to Better the Restaurant Industry Fieri’s charitable drive and passion to highlight the
people of the restaurant industry is present in every step of his now world-famous career. Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, the show Fieri is perhaps best known for, was conceived in part as a way of celebrating the mom-and- pop restaurants that are ubiquitous in every small town
“Nothing can replace what this kind of recognition, appearing on TV, can do for these people and their businesses… for their lives. I need to keep doing this because it just needs to be done.”
— Guy Fieri
or big city neighborhood across the country. They are the local hangouts and generationally owned fixtures serving the unique dishes that give a community its flavor, but they often lack the name recognition and marketing dollars enjoyed by the larger chains they increasingly must compete against. A segment on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives evens the playing field by putting the restaurant in front of millions of eyeballs, driving renewed interest as people come from all over the country to experience the same food Fieri ate. “Nothing can replace what this kind of recognition, appearing on TV, can do for these people and their businesses… for their lives,” Fieri said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “I need to keep doing this because it just needs to be done.” The show has featured nearly 1,300 independent
restaurants during its 16-year run and the Triple D effect is well documented. The show’s producers often warn operators to be ready for a sudden surge in business before filming even begins, but many have reported that even high expectations aren’t able to keep pace with the huge influx of orders. One Minnesota operator told the MinnPost that sales rose 500 percent one month after his seafood restaurant appeared in an episode in 2012 and others note the effect is long-lasting, with sales bumps occurring whenever their episode is rerun. No one knows better than Fieri how television can
make a restaurant, and he’s used that power to support the industry and the people behind it since becoming a Food Network personality. Fieri first stepped into the foodservice industry at age 10 when he sold soft pretzels from a bicycle cart. His interest only grew from there, leading him to study abroad in France and eventually open his first casual dining concepts in Northern California. Fieri’s breakout came in 2006 when he won the “Next Food Network Star” television competition and was awarded his first show, Guy’s Big Bite. He quickly proved his popularity and has since become the anchor of the Food Network lineup, hosting shows such as Guy’s Grocery Games and Tournament of Champions.
With so many programs ongoing it seems that Fieri is always on TV – and viewers are always watching. According to the Food Network, an average of 73 million people watch at least one Guy Fieri show each quarter. The company rewarded that success with a new three-year, $80 million deal in 2021, making Fieri the highest-paid chef on cable television. The 54-year-old never seems to miss an opportunity to use his fame to benefit others. His commitment to
10 FEDA News & Views
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