Food Network’s Chopped has a simple premise: Chefs must impress a panel of three judges, who are professional chefs themselves, for three meals in a row to take home $10,000.
Judges have been one major attraction to the show, and they have become household names in America. Aarón Sánchez, Alex Guarnaschelli, Amanda Freitag, Chris Santos, Geoffrey Zakarian, and Maneet Chauhan are all regulars on the show and all of them are successful in their own right.
Zakarian, in particular, has overcome some long odds in his rise to fame.
Geoffrey Zakarian’s career got a boost on Food Network
Zakarian graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1983 after attending the academy in Hyde Park, New York. From there, it was nowhere else but up.
He apprenticed at Le Cirque under Chef Alain Sailhac and Chef Daniel Boulud, where he was named chef de cuisine. Then Zakarian became executive chef at the 21 Club and Patroon in New York where he learned the art and science of how a restaurant operates. He opened his first restaurant, Town, in 2001 before expanding his culinary reach to another restaurant, Country.
Never one to rest on his laurels, Zakarian served as the culinary director at The Plaza Hotel, launched the Palm Court, and was the executive chef at 44 at the Royalton Hotel. He also opened restaurant concepts in New York, California, and Florida while developing culinary expertise on Norwegian Cruise Line ships to wow passengers.
All of this happened while the chef made a name for himself in American households on Food Network. As a challenger on Iron Chef America, Zakarian lost to Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto in 2010 before winning The Next Iron Chef a year later when he defeated Elizabeth Falkner.
Other shows benefitted from Zakarian’s expertise, including The Best Thing I Ever Made, The Chew, and Chopped, where he serves as a regular judge on the series. The celebrity chef did have one controversial setback in 2011 as his fame grew.
A class-action lawsuit sent Geoffrey Zakarian to personal bankruptcy
Zakarian opened Country in 2005 and closed in 2008 after not being profitable. In 2011, even though the restaurant was closed, 152 employees filed a class-action lawsuit against him, alleging he falsified pay records, didn’t pay overtime, and made unauthorized deductions from their paychecks, according to Mashed.
Even worse, Zarkarian’s two former business partners corroborated the stories of the employees. The lawsuit sought $1 million in damages and $250,000 in penalties. Zakarian denied everything. But he declared bankruptcy and settled out of court to avoid a potential disaster if a jury awarded the plaintiffs even more money.
But, the celebrity chef has been doing very well since then. Celebrity Net Worth says his current net worth is around $6 million.
Geoffrey Zakarian is a very busy and successful chef now
The celebrity chef has learned his lessons and moved on from bankruptcy to grow his business interests quite well. He celebrates life every day with his wife and three adorable children.
He owns The National Bar & Dining Rooms in New York as well as The National by Geoffrey Zakarian in Dubai, both of which feature American-style cuisine. He also consults with top-of-the-line restaurants for hotels worldwide.
He has published four cookbooks that feature how to cook with 50 simple ingredients and prepare family meals that are delicious and nutritious. The Family That Cooks Together was published by his daughters and showcases family recipes that the celebrity chef prepares at home with the help of his girls.
He and his wife own Zakarian Hospitality, a consulting firm, and a line of kitchen products, cookware items, and tools designed to help home chefs achieve culinary bliss. He also has the Zakarian Collection, a line of ingredients for home cooks to use in everyday cooking.
Since 2014, Zakarian has served as Chairman of the City Harvest Food Council, a food rescue organization dedicated to fighting hunger in New York City as a way to give back to the community that has supported his career for more than 40 years. The Zakarian culinary empire shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.
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