Here’s our list of the 20 richest and most successful chefs in the world. While we have not listed them in any order of wealth, we have chosen them based on our criteria of success, innovation, and net worth, with a couple of special mentions.
Gordon Ramsay
Net Worth: $115 million
Gordon Ramsay may be fiery language-wise; however, this celebrity chef is also a master in his craft and a perfectionist with the dishes he cooks and creates.
Ramsay reimagines French, Italian, and British cuisines, often giving them a re-booted and lighter taste.
Popular the world-over for his appearances in reality TV cooking-shows like Hell’s Kitchen, the F Word, Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, and MasterChef, Ramsay has more than 35 restaurants worldwide to his names, that stretches from New York, to Singapore and Sydney.
Even though a young Ramsay wanted to play professional football, a knee injury put paid to that dream, and Ramsay enrolled to study hotel management at North Oxfordshire Technical College. After graduating, Ramsay worked at a few different restaurants before he landed a job at Harveys- working for Chef Marco Pierre White – where he stayed for 2 years before leaving for the French Alps to work at the Hotel Diva, and then to Paris to work for culinary luminaries Guy Savoy and Joel Robuchon. A little known fact is that Marco Pierre White once made Ramsay cry when Ramsay worked at Harveys!
After Ramsay returned to London in 1993, he worked at Aubergine, the re-named restaurant of Marco Pierre, clinching for it its second Michelin Star in 1997. In 1998, Ramsay started his own restaurant, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, and as they say, the rest is history.
As of 2023, Gordon Ramsay is worth an estimated $115 million.
I am what I am. A fighter.
Gordon Ramsay
Guy Savoy
Net Worth: $3 million
Guy Savoy, whom Gordon Ramsay credits as his mentor, is the owner of the three Michelin-starred restaurant: Restaurant Guy Savoy in Monnaie de Paris, 11 Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. Another restaurant of his namesake is located in Las Vegas, United States. His other restaurants include Atelier Maître Albert in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, Le Chiberta in the 8th arrondissement of Paris and Supu Ramen in the 6th arrondissement of Paris.
Guy initially apprenticed in the kitchen of the three Michelin-starred Troisgros in Roanne, North West of Lyon, France. After three years of apprenticeship, Guy opened Restaurant Guy Savoy in Las Vegas first before coming home to France to open his first restaurant in Monnaie de Paris.
In 2019, La Liste* named Restaurant Guy Savoy the best restaurant in the world for the third time in a row. The Las Vegas Restaurant Guy Savoy was bestowed 2 Michelin stars, the AAA Five Diamond Award, the Forbes Five Star Award and the Wine Spectator Grand Award. The Restaurant Guy Savoy in Paris was awarded its third Michelin star in 2002 and was ranked by Restaurant Magazine Top 50 Restaurants in the world in 2004 and 2005. Guy Savoy’s style of cooking is closely associated with nouvelle cuisine.
In 2018, Guy Savoy won the Prix du Rayonnement Gastronomique Français (French Influence Award for Gastronomy).
As of 2023, Guy Savoy is estimated to have a net worth of $3 million.
*La Liste is a French ranking and restaurants guide with over 20,000 restaurants in 195 countries by aggregating over 700 guides and publication. It is the French’s answer to the British published gastronomic guide World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
Joel Robuchon
Net Worth: $100 million
Joel Robuchon was a French chef and restaurateur whose perfectionism was well-known in the culinary world. He once famously quipped that there was no such thing as a perfect meal. He was also the most awarded chef in the world, having garnered a total of 32 Michelin stars as of 2018.
Robuchon led French cuisine forward from the excessive reductionism found in nouvelle cuisine to a post-modern confluence of the nouvelle, international influences – especially Japanese cuisine – and select traditions of haute cuisine. In the late eights and early nineties, Robuchon was already celebrating the natural qualities of the freshest produce causing Patricia Wells to dub his style of cooking “cuisine actuelle” in her cookbook Simply French.
Born in 1945, Chef Joel was named Chef of the Century in 1989 by the Gault Millau guide, and awarded the Meilleur Ouvrier de France in cuisine in 1976. Joel has also published several top-selling cookbooks, and as at time of his death in 2018, he had 15 restaurants to his name spanning Las Vegas, to Bangkok and Singapore, all of which was at least a one Michelin-starred restaurant.
As at the time of his death, the estate of Joel Robuchon was estimated to be worth $100 million.
Cooking is creating emotion.
Joel Robuchon
Wolfgang Puck
Net Worth: $80 million
Even if you have not been to CUT, a fine-dining establishment of Wolfgang Puck, you may have seen Wolfgang Puck Express in the airports all around America, notably in the aviation hub of Chicago.
Puck was originally from Austria. He first learned the art of cooking from his chef-mother, and later, formally trained under Raymond Thuilier at L’Oustau de Baumaniere in Les Baux-de-Provence, at the Hotel de Paris in Monaco, and at Maxim’s Paris before moving to the US at age 24. Puck first moved to Los Angeles and opened his first Spago restaurant on the Sunset Strip in 1982.
In 1997, Puck moved Spago to Beverly Hills where it has been accorded a place as one of the top 40 restaurants in the world since 2004.
This success resulted in the launch of the Wolfgang Puck Fine Dinning Group, Wolfgang Puck Worldwide, Inc and Wolfgang Puck Catering, which together command over 20 fine dining restaurants, catering services and more than 80 Wolfgang Puck Express, including food and other related merchandise. Wolfgang’s style of cooking is a combination of fresh Californian cuisine, French and Fusion.
Indeed, one of the most enterprising aspect of the Wolfgang Puck businesses is that since 2003, his recipes have been syndicated worldwide to newspapers and websites by Tribune Content Agency. He is also the official caterer for the Academy Awards Governors Ball.
Not only has Puck won two Michelin stars for his Spago restaurant in Beverly Hills, it has also received a James Beard Foundation Outstanding Service Award. His other restaurant CUT by Wolfgang Puck in Beverly Hills and in Singapore were both bestowed a Michelin star.
Puck has also appeared in numerous cooking reality shows, as well as in American Idol and the sitcom Frazier.
On May 20, 2017, Puck was named the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association (IFMA) 2017 Gold Plate Winner
This illustrious chef has amassed a fortune of approximately $80 million as of 2023.
I left school when I was 14 to work in kitchens.
Wolfgang Puck
Jamie Oliver
Net Worth: $150 million
Jamie Trevor Oliver, instantly recognizable for his smiles and his warm and approachable way to cooking first became famous on the BBC cooking show The Naked Chef, featuring Jamie. Jamie followed this early success by publishing a best-seller cookbook and other television shows such as Jamie’s Kitchen, Jamie’s School Dinners and Jamie’s Great Italian Escape.
In 2005, Jamie launched a campaign called Feed Me Better to introduce school children to healthier food which was later backed by the UK government. Until 2019, Jamie’s most famous chain of restaurants, Jamie’s Italian was world famous, had outlets from London to Singapore. Sadly, the chain went into administration in 2019. However, Jamie still operates a few bespoke restaurants like his Fifteen in East London.
While Jamie is without a doubt a highly talented chef, it was often his campaigns to encourage the public and especially school children to turn to healthier and better food that has made him a household name. Having published over 29 books and appearing in over 30 television shows have certainly cemented Jamie as the chef of our generation.
Jamie’s TED Talk has won him the 2010 TED Prize, and in June of 2003, Jamie was inducted as a Member of the Order of the British Empire.
As of 2023, Jamie Oliver has built himself a fortune of some $150 million.
I’ve cooked just about everything really.
Jamie Oliver
Anthony Bourdain
Net Worth: $3 million
One could say that Anthony Bourdain was one of the pioneering celebrities of culinary reality shows on television. Bourdain was a graduate of The Culinary Institute of America and was last the executive chef of Brasserie Les Halles in Manhattan. He became famous from his best-selling book, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly.
Anthony’s first food and travel show, A Cook’s Tour ran for 35 episodes on the Food Network from 2002 to 2003. After that, he hosted the Travel Channel’s culinary and cultural adventure: Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (2005-2012) and The Layover(2011-2013). His CNN’s Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown was a long-running series until his untimely demise on location in France for Parts Unknown. Bourdain had also appeared in movies like The Big Shot, as himself,
Bourdain not only wrote books of food, culture, and the human condition, he regularly contributed to the press like the New York Times.
One could say that as a working chef, Anthony Bourdain was not as well-known, but after he became a presenter of his shows, he was better known as the chef-at-large.
As at the time of his demise, Anthony Bourdain had accumulated a total wealth of just $3 million.
I’m not afraid to look like an idiot.
Anthony Bourdain
Marco Pierre White
Net Worth: $25 million
Marco Pierre White first trained at the Hotel St George in Harrogate and at the Box Tree in IKley. In 1981, he decided to go to London where he started his classical training as a commis with Albert and Michel Roux at Le Gavroche. After Le Gavroche, he continued with Pierre Koffman at La Tante Claire and went on to Le Manior, the kitchen of Raymond Blanc, and later at Chez Nico, before he started to work on his own with assistant Mario Batali in a public house in King’s Road, London.
White opened Harveys in Wandsworth Common, London in 1987 to much acclaim and to his first Michelin star almost within the first year of opening, and to his second a short year later. His cooking style revolved around British, French and Italian cuisines.
He won the Newcomer Award at the 1987 The Catey Awards organized by The Caterer Magazine. He became the chef-patron of his eponymous The Restaurant Marco Pierre White, originally in the dining room of the Hyde Park Hotel on Park Lane, London where he went on to win his third Michelin star, and which he then moved to the Oak Room at Le Meridien Piccadilly Hotel.
At 32 years old, White became the first British chef to be awarded three Michelin stars, who also at the time, was the youngest in Michelin history.
Although White worked for seventeen years to scale the ladder to become one of the world’s best chefs, he became a little disillusioned as he did not find much happiness in his personal life. In 1999 he retired and returned his Michelin stars, but continued to be a restauranteur.
As of 2023, this once celebrated chef is estimated to be worth $25 million.
Cooking is a philosophy; it’s not a recipe.
Marco Pierre White
Nobu Matsuhisa
Net Worth: $125 million
Nobuyuki Matsuhisa is a celebrity chef originally from Japan. He is known for his fusion cuisine of traditional Japanese dishes with Peruvian ingredients. The Peruvian influence was due to the time he spent in Peru, having moved there in 1974 after a Peruvian customer of Japanese descent invited him.
In Peru, Nobu could not find a lot of the ingredients he was used to in Japan. And so, he improvised and to great success. Around 1976, Nobu went to the US, initially working in Japanese restaurants Mitsuwa and Oshou. In 1987, he opened his own restaurant Matsuhisa on La Cienega Boulevard in LA, California. After Matsuhisa, chef Nobu started his Nobu Empire, with the first location in Tribeca, New York City. Today there are around 32 Nobu restaurants around the world, from LA to Perth, Australia.
Nobu restaurants are distinguished by their trendy décor and glamorous cast of celebrity clientele who eat there. Black cod in miso is chef Nobu’s signature dish.
As of 2023, chef Nobu’s empire has built him an estimated total wealth of some $125 million.
Making sushi is an art, and experience is everything.
Nobu Matsuhisa
Heston Blumenthal
Net Worth: $4 million
Heston Marc Blumenthal is associated with multi-sensory cooking, saying that eating is one of the few activities that involve all the senses at the same time. Heston is known to be a chef interested in the chemistry of food, often combining totally unexpected ingredients to his dishes or turning our conventional knowledge of what a particular food is upside down. One of his better-known creations is the bacon & egg ice-cream which is served at his restaurant, The Fat Duck.
Heston is a British celebrity chef and proprietor of The Fat Duck in Bray Berkshire, which has the distinction of being awarded 3 Michelin Stars, and only one of five restaurants in the UK to have achieved this feat. The Fat Duck was voted No. 1 in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2005.
Heston has appeared in many television reality-cooking shows since 2002, starting with Kitchen Chemistry with Heston Blumenthal, Heston Blumenthal: In Search of Perfection and Heston Blumenthal: Further Adventures In Search of Perfection.
Heston next television show was a Channel 4’s documentary on the revamp of the menu at Little Chef, the motorway restaurant on the A303 road, after which there was a series of programs called Heston’s Feasts, and others soon followed. In 2020, Heston was a judge in a new series called Crazy Delicious, alongside Niklas Ekstedt and Carla Hall, hosted by British comedienne Jayde Adams.
Apart from his three Michelin stars, for his chemistry-based cooking, Heston has received honorary degrees from the University of Reading, Bristol and London, and he has also been honored by an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II of England to cook at a private party at Windsor Castle in 2009.
In January 2006, Blumenthal was appointed an OBE (Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in the New Years’ Honours List for his services to British Gastronomy.
As of 2023, Heston Blumenthal has built up a personal wealth of approximately $4 million.
I have this desire to keep improving, so I find fault.
Heston Blumenthal
Guy Fieri
Net Worth: $50 million
Guy Ramsay Fieri won the second season of The Next Food Network Star in 2006, and part of the prize was as host of his own cooking show. Guy’s Big Bite premiered on June 25, 2006. Since then, Guy has been a regular face on television in a number of cooking shows. Guy’s go-to food is huge and yummy burgers and sandwiches, which while one could describe as fast-food, but their ingredients are by no means of the fast-food fare.
In 1996, Fieri and business partner Steve Gruber opened Johnny Garlic’s, a “California Pasta Grill” in Santa Rosa, California. Between 1999 and 2008, 4 further locations were opened, although the one in Petaluma had since closed. The business partners also opened Tex Wasabi’s (barbecue and sushi) in 2003 in Santa Rosa, with a second location in Sacramento’s Arden-Arcade added on in 2007, which has subsequently closed, although another location in Dublin, California was opened in 2011.
Guy’s first New York City restaurant, Guy’s American Kitchen and Bar was opened in 2012 to scathing reviews by Pete Wells, although Guy alleged Wells of using his fame to advance Well’s own career. Notwithstanding the poor review, Guy’s New York restaurant was listed four years in a row as one of the top 100 independent restaurants.
In 2011, Fieri entered into a deal with Carnival Cruise lines to create Guy’s Burger Joint to sell Fieri’s burgers fleet-wide. As of October 2017, there were some 19 restaurants on Carnival’s cruise ships, including some serving beer-and-BBQ, Guy’s Pig & Anchor Smokehouse Brewhouse.
In April 2014, Guy Fieri‘s Vegas Kitchen and Bar opened in Las Vegas. In 2015, Guy Fieri’s Baltimore Kitchen & Bar opened in Baltimore’s Horseshoe Casino. In 2018, Fieri collaborated with Robert Earl, owner of Planet Hollywood to open fast-food chicken sandwich shop: Chicken Guy! at in Disney World.
Outside of the kitchen, Guy Fieri has appeared in over 25 cooking shows, sometimes as contestants, sometimes as judge and sometimes as host.
As of 2023, Guy Fieri has built a total wealth of some $50 million.
Food is not just eating energy. It’s an experience.
Guy Fieri
Bobby Flay
Net Worth: $30 million
Often called the master chef of barbe-q and grill, Bobby Flay started life working in various pizza parlours and Baskin Robbins. It was when he took a position making salads at the Joe Allen Restaurant in Broadway that the proprietor of the restaurant, being quite impressed with him, sent him to the French Culinary Institute in New York City.
Graduating in 1984 with a degree in culinary arts, Flay worked in a few restaurants as a sous chef. At the Brighton Grill on Third Avenue, Flay was asked to step up as executive chef, but he declined, as he felt he was not ready to be an executive chef. He then went on to work as a chef at Buds and Jams where he was introduced to Southwestern and Cajun food by Jonathan Waxman. The barbecue and grill-centric cuisine of Southwestern and Cajun food would become the underpinnings of a lot of Bobby’s cooking.
Although Bobby took a couple of years out of the kitchen to work in Fleet street after his stint at Buds and Jams, he returned to the kitchen to work as executive chef at the Miracle Grill in East Village. He then caught the eye of restauranteur Jerome Kretchmer who was at the time looking for a chef who could cook southwestern cuisine. Flay was offered the position of executive chef at Mesa Grill. Flay became a partner in 1993, and in that same year Flay opened Bolo Bar & Restaurant with Laurence Kretchmer in the Flatiron district of New York City.
In 2004, a second Mesa Grill was opened in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace, and in 2005 he opened Bar Americain, an American Brasserie in Midtown Manhattan.
After that the Bobby Flay empire of restaurants expanded to Atlantic City, New Jersey, and the Bahamas, although the only one of Flay’s restaurants ever to be bestowed a Michelin star was The Las Vegas Mesa Grill in 2008, but was not renewed in 2009.
Bobby Flay is, of course, a popular and well-known host, contestant and judge in over 20 cooking shows, including The Next Iron Chef. His other popular shows include: Throwdown! With Bobby Flay (2006 to 2010), Beat Bobby Flay (2013), and The Bobby and Damaris Show (2013).
As of 2023, Bobby is estimated to have an estimated net worth of $30 million.
I work out to eat.
Bobby Flay
Martin Yan
Net Worth: $6 million
Martin Yan is a veteran of cooking shows as he was one of the first few chef to entertain audiences all over the world with his culinary prowess, often entertaining his audience by wielding his chopping knives like in a kung-fu movie.
Yan, born 1948, is a Chinese-American chef and food writer and critic, and has been hosted his award-winning PBS TV cooking show – Yan Can Cook – since 1982 which has been broadcast in 50 countries.
He currently hosts Martin Yan – Quick & Easy, and also hosts Martin Yan’s Chinatowns where he visits Chinatowns around the world, as well as Martin Yan’s Hidden China.
Martin first received a diploma from the Overseas Institute of Cookery of Hong Kong, and in 1975, after he moved from Canada to the US, received a Master of Science degree in food science from the University of California, Davis.
Yan owns the chain of Yan Can Restaurants and founded the Yan Can International Cooking School based in San Francisco. He has written more than 15 cookbooks and has appeared as a guest judge on several episodes of Iron Chef American and also appeared on the cartoon talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast. He has also appeared as a guest judge on the Season 10 finale of Top Chef and Season 11 episode of Hell’s Kitchen.
The American Culinary Federation has designated him a Master Chef. As of 2023, he is estimated to be worth $6 million.
You don’t have to show people how successful you are.
Martin Yan
Ferran Adria
Net Worth: $5 million
Even if you haven’t heard of chef Ferran Adria, you would likely have had chef’s foam which was created by Ferran Adria, now used by chefs all over the world.
Ferran Adria Acosta is a Spanish chef and head chef of the elBulli restaurant on the Costa Brava. He is considered to be one of the best chefs in the world and worked often with pastry chef, Albert Adria, his brother.
Much like Heston Blumenthal, Ferran Adria was interested in the chemistry of food and often deconstructed his traditional dishes to provoke, surprise and delight diners.
While in conscripted army, Adria was detailed as a cook. After his national service, Adria worked as a line cook at the kitchen of elBulli. A short 18 months later, Adria became the head chef.
In 1994, Adria sold 20% of his business to Miquel Horta (a Spanish millionaire and philanthropist and son of the founder of Nenuco) for 120 million pesetas. This disposal became an opportunity for elBulli as the relationship with Horta opened doors to new clients, businessmen, and politicians who helped with endorsement of Ferran Adria and his innovative cuisine.
As of 2023, Ferran Adria is estimated to be worth about $5 million.
I don’t worry about the things I can’t change.
Ferran Adria
Giada De Laurentiis
Net Worth: $15 million
When Giada Pamela De Laurentiis first started hosting her show Everyday Italian, a complaint was made to the Food Network saying that the network had hired a model masquerade as a chef!
While it is true that Giada looks like she could be a model, and her family is in show business, she studied at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, with the intention of becoming a pastry chef. When she returned to the United States, she worked at various restaurants in Los Angeles, including Spago, owned by Wolfgang Puck. She also worked as a food stylist and was approached by the Food Network after they saw her work in Food and Wine magazine in 2002.
In July 2014, De Laurentiis opened her first restaurant, called GIADA, inside The Cromwell hotel in Las Vegas. The restaurant offers seating in the dining room, lounge, or outdoor patio with views of the Bellagio fountains and Caesars Palace. A second restaurant was opened called Pronto by Giada, located inside the grand Caesars Palace and is a fast-casual dining restaurant. In 2018, Giada opened her third restaurant, called GDL Italian by Giada in the Horseshoe Casino in Baltimore Maryland.
Giada is, of course, the face and personality of many cooking and lifestyle shows, having won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lifestyle Host and the Grace Award for Best Television Host.
As of 2023, Giada Pamela De Laurentiis has built for herself an estimated net worth of some $15 million.
Pasta doesn’t make you fat. How much pasta you eat makes you fat.
Giada De Laurentiis
Vikas Khanna
Net Worth: $40 million
Vikas holds the position of the top 10 chefs in Asia, and is a celebrity around the world. In India, Vikas has worked for the Taj Hotels, Oberoi Group, Welcome group and the Leela Group of Hotels.
In New York, where he moved to, he worked at Salaam Bombay and The Café at the Rubin Museum of Art. He later joined Junoon which has been awarded a Michelin star for six consecutive years since 2011.
Vikas is also a popular host of various reality cooking shows, in addition to being bestowed the title of the “Hottest Chef of the Word” in 2011. He hosted the 2nd season of Masterchef India in 2011, and all following seasons since. He has also been invited to be a guest judge on MasterChef Australia in Season 6 and has been featured as consultant chef alongside Gordon Ramsay in Kitchen Nightmares, to name a few. On top of appearing on Television, Vikas has cooked for the Obamas and other prominent dignitaries.
Vikas has been estimated to have an estimated net worth of $40 million as of 2023.
Impossible is just an opinion, nothing else!
Vikas Khanna
David Chang
Net Worth: $15 million
It’s not every day that a chef says he’s tired of the fine-dinning scene and decides to open a noodle-bar named after the inventor of instant noodles. But David Chang did just that in 2004 in the East Village, New York with Momofuku Noodle Bar.
In 2018, Chang created, produced and starred in the Netflix original series, Ugly Delicious, which showcases one dish each episode, how it’s made and its history.
Chang attended the French Culinary Institute (now known as the International Culinary Center) in New York City in 2000 and worked part-time at Tom Colicchio’s Craft restaurant. He went back to Japan to work first at a small soba shop and then at Tokyo’s Park Hyatt before returning to the US, where he worked at Café Bolud, where his idol Alex Lee had previously worked.
After Momofuku Noodle Bar, came Momofuku Ssäm Bar in 2006. Momofuku Ssäm Bar was later renamed Momofuku Milk Bar after he moved Momofuku Ssäm Bar into an adjacent space colleague Christina Tosi. In 2009, a cookbook called Momofuku was published and in May 2010, Chang opened Má Pêche in midtown Manhattan. Following that Chang would venture overseas with his first restaurant outside of the US opened in Toronto in late 2012, and thereafter, a chain of fast-food restaurants called Fuku was born in 2015.
This illustrious chef is today one of the very top chefs in the world, rubbing shoulders with giants like Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay, and Wolfgang Puck. As of 2023, David Chang is estimated to be worth $15 million.
If people think you are this amazing, own it.
David Chang
Thomas Keller
Net Worth: $35 million
Keller trained under Chef Roland Henin in the complex art of classical French cooking. He apprenticed at a few Michelin-starred restaurants in New York and Paris before finding success with his own restaurant Rakel, in New York, which became a regular haunt for Wall Street Bankers. Rakel closed after the Global Financial Crisis and he opened The French Laundry in California. The French Laundry received various culinary awards including three Michelin stars and a James Beard award.
He has since opened several other acclaimed restaurants across the US. This classically trained chef is also the author of an array of cookbooks and kitchenware. He also acted as consultant to several Hollywood productions, including the Adam Sandler comedy, Spanglish, and the Pixar classic, Ratatouille.
As of 2023, Thomas Keller has built a fortune of some $35 million.
I have no formal culinary training.
Thomas Keller
Alan Wong
Net Worth: $900 million
If it was simply stated that Wong has three restaurants. Two are located on Oahu, The Pineapple Room at Ala Moana Center and Alan Wong’s King Street, Hawaii, USA, and the third one is Alan Wong’s Shanghai, which is located in Shanghai, China, you would not believe that this super chef is worth about a billion dollars.
Starting out as one of 12 founding members of a movement called island fusion cuisine in Hawaii in 1992, the Tokyo born chef started out wanting to fuse the distinct flavors of the eight Hawaiian Islands using only the freshest local ingredients. When his movement, called Hawaii Regional Cuisine became big, it went really big for Wong, and he was soon making appearances, writing cookbooks, hosting cooking shows and even cooking for President Barack Obama.
In 2009, Wong cooked a luau at the White House for President Obama at the annual White House Congressional picnic for members of Congress and their families.
In 2001, he was awarded Chef of the Year by Santé Magazine. In 2001, Gourmet Magazine ranked one of his restaurants number six in a listing of America’s Best Fifty Restaurants. In 1996, he was awarded the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Pacific Northwest. In 1994, Wong was recognized by Robert Mondavi Winery as one of 13 Rising Star Chefs in America.
As of 2023, Alan Wong has built a fortune of an incredible $900 million.
Our spirit is to be considerate and have compassion for people.
Alan Wong
Paul Bocuse
Net Worth: $125 million
Paul Bocuse is widely recognized to have contributed to French culture through his food and wine. Hailing from a family of culinary greats, French celebrity chef Paul Bocuse’s restaurant, L’Auberge du Pont de Collognes has maintained its three Michelin stars from the time his father won them till today. It is perhaps the only restaurant in the world to have been bestowed three Michelin stars and kept them for so long.
L’Auberge du Pont de Collognes is a luxury establishment near Lyon, serving a traditional menu for decades. It was one of only 27 restaurants in France to receive a three-star rating in 2017 by the Michelin Guide. However, in 2020, it lost its record-breaking 55-year long 3-star rating in the 2020 Michelin Guide, causing quite a stir in the French culinary world. Paul also operated a chain of brasseries in Lyon, named Le Nord, l’Est, Le Sud and l’Ouest, each of which specializes in a different aspect of French cuisine
Bocuse was a student of Eugenie Brazier who during her time won six Michelin stars. He was also one of the most prominent chefs to have been associated with nouvelle cuisine which is lighter and stressed more on the quality of its ingredients and presentation than classical French cuisine. Paul Bocuse is also distinguished to have been one of the top chefs for food prepared for the maiden flight of the airliner, Concorde, in 1969.
As at the time of his death in 2018, Paul Bocuse’s estate was worth approximately $125 million.
If a cook makes a mistake, he covers it with some sauce and says it is a new recipe.
Paul Bocuse
Emeril Lagasse
Net Worth: $45 million
While some of the world’s top chefs have contributed to cuisines in the air served by some of the world’s five-star airlines, Lagasse contributed several recipes to the meal selection aboard the International Space Station, as part of a NASA program to improve the quality of the food for astronauts.
Emeril graduated from Johnson and Wales University’s culinary school in 1978 and by 1979, he was already the Executive Chef of the Dunfey’s Hyannis Resort in 1979. In 1982, he went on to succeed Paul Prudhomme as executive chef of Commander’s Palace in New Orleans under the award-winning restauranteur Richard Brennan Sr. where Emeril would stay for nearly eight years.
In 1990, Lagasse opened his own restaurant in New Orleans and within the same year, it was named restaurant of the year by Esquire magazine as well as the recipient of the Wine Spectator Grand Award in 1999. Lagasse’s cuisine is all about flavoring with spices to “kick it up a notch” or give it a “bam”, two of his favorite phrases. Emeril’s style of cooking revolves around French, Creole, Portuguese, and Cajun cuisines.
Lagasse has been appearing in television doing a variety of culinary and cooking competition shows since the early 90s. Emeril hosts Eat the World with Emeril Lagasse on Amazon Video produced by Ugly Brother Studios. In 2017, the show won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Culinary Program.
As of 2023, Emeril Lagasse is worth approximately $45 million.
If you don’t follow your dream, who will?
Emeril Lagasse
