Larger-than-life Food Network chef Guy Fieri is a rock star in the culinary world. He's also an Emmy-winning TV host who appears on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Guy’s Grocery Games, Tournament of Champions, Guy’s Ranch Kitchen and various Food Network specials.

History and Background

The popular chef we know today as Guy Fieri was born Guy Ramsey Ferry in Columbus, Ohio, to parents Jim and Penny. He changed his surname to Fieri in 1995 to honor his Italian grandfather, who had altered the spelling of the family name when he immigrated to the US. Listen to some of his shows and you may hear Guy introduce himself with the correct way of saying his last name: "fee-eddy."

In an interview with Eater, Guy described his parents as "hippies" who moved to little Ferndale, California, to sell candles and leather goods. The family, he said, ate healthy foods like steamed fish and brown rice, and he never got white bread. That changed after he discovered soft pretzels on a family trip to Tahoe. At age 10, he started his own pretzel business, selling the snacks from a three-wheel bicycle cart he built with his dad.

At the same age, Guy had an accident that nearly cost him his life. He was riding a horse when it threw him off and trampled him. He needed surgery to repair his serious injuries, but eventually he recovered fully.

After six years of selling pretzels and washing dishes, Guy earned enough money to study abroad in Chantilly, France. He found a passion for international cuisines while working in restaurants there. After returning to the US, he studied hospitality management and graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. According to The Kitchn, Guy didn't go to culinary school; he taught himself about food by reading cookbooks and working in the kitchen.

Family Life

Guy met his wife, Lori, at a restaurant he was managing in Long Beach, California. Lori and Guy married in 1995 and share two sons, Hunter and Ryder. They also became the legal guardians of Guy’s nephew Jules after Guy's sister Morgan passed away. All three have appeared with Guy on various Food Network shows and specials, including Guy’s Grocery Games, Guy’s Ultimate Family Cruise, Guy! Hawaiian Style and Diner’s, Drive-Ins and Dives. Jules won the family championship in an episode of Guy’s Grocery Games, and Ryder is a brand ambassador for the family winery in Northern California, Hunt & Ryde. In a 2019 interview with People, Guy said, "I'm so proud of all that these kids get to experience but also at how grounded they've stayed." His family, he says, is his first priority.

Guy lost his father in January 2024. Jim was 81 years old. Despite grieving on his first Father’s Day without his dad, Guy told People, “Even when you’re having a tough day some little miracles happen in the world.” He meant that the daughter of some close friends asked him to be her godfather, and he told her he'd be honored.

Guy's Restaurants

In 1996, Guy and a business partner launched the first in a series of casual dining restaurants, Johnny Garlic’s, in Santa Rosa, California. Other locations followed, and in 1999, Tex Wasabi’s opened in Sacramento. The following year, Guy’s American Kitchen and Bar debuted in New York City but closed in 2017. Today, he operates Guy Fieri's American Kitchen and Bar in locations across the US and in Dubai, South Africa and Cancun.

Guy’s culinary empire kept growing, and his website currently lists 17 different restaurants across the US and around the world. There's a Guy's Bar-B-Que Joint at Bally's Atlantic City Casino, and Guy’s Pig & Anchor Bar-B-Que Smokehouse can be found onboard many Carnival Cruise Lines ships. His delivery-only Flavortown Kitchen has more than 170 locations in the US, and he has other restaurant concepts, like From Scratch in Carmel, California.

Guy's Las Vegas Restaurants

In 2014, Guy Fieri’s Vegas Kitchen and Bar opened at The LINQ on the Las Vegas Strip. Sports fans can watch live action on HD screens at Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Sports Kitchen at Horseshoe Las Vegas. This eatery features an enormous 360-degree island bar.

Another of Guy’s Vegas restaurants, Chicken Guy!, was created in partnership with Planet Hollywood founder and CEO Robert Earl. It's a quick-service eatery at Caesar’s Palace that serves fresh, all-natural chicken tenders with assorted sauces, sides and desserts. The menus at other Chicken Guy! locations vary.

Guy’s Food Network Shows



In 2004, Guy auditioned for the pilot of a barbecue show on Food Network. Although the show never materialized, his energetic, fun persona helped him land a spot on The Next Food Network Star, a program designed to find new Food Network personalities with culinary skills. He won the show's second season, in 2006, and was awarded six episodes of his own show, Guy’s Big Bite. It ran for 19 seasons and ended in 2016.

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

In 2007, Food Network put Guy on the road to check out small, independent eateries — the "greasy spoons," or diners, drive-ins and dives in the title — that served great food. Guy’s son Hunter has co-hosted some episodes with his father. In Season 35, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the show, nicknamed Triple D or DDD, was modified. Chefs sent their recipes to Guy to cook at his Santa Rosa home amid quarantine.

Guy’s Grocery Games

On Guy’s Grocery Games, also known as Triple G, chefs compete to prepare dishes with ingredients you’d find in a real grocery store; in this case, they get them from Guy’s Flavortown Market, a set that's also a fully functioning supermarket. (Sorry, but it's not open to the public.) Each challenger gets a limited list of ingredients and a limited time to shop for them during two or three rounds. A contestant is eliminated in each round until only one remains and wins a shopping spree. The show is packed with challenges and games to keep the action lively and fun.

Tournament of Champions

Top chefs on Guy's show Tournament of Champions face off to meet challenges set by The Randomizer, a spinning wheel that determines the ingredients and cooking equipment they must use. It also specifies a cooking style and time limit. The pressure builds as Guy hosts this single-bracket, sudden-death cook-off, until experts blind-judge the dishes and name a winner.

Fun Facts About Guy

• Born on January 25, Guy's zodiac sign is Aquarius.
• When Lori met Guy, his hair was dark. One day, he let a hairdresser friend get creative and she gave him bleached, spiky tips. He kept them as his summertime 'do for a while and let his hair go dark again in winter. Eventually, his bleached hair became his signature style, along with his goatee. He wore a buttoned-up shirt to his Food Network audition because a shirt with a collar was required; the producers liked it, so it became part of his look, too. He’s more into T-shirts now.
• After some unpleasant experiences, Guy won't eat eggs unless they're in a recipe.
• In 2019, Guy was honored with a star on the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• He's good friends with actor Matthew McConaughey. They cooked together on an episode of Guy's Big Bite.

Guy's Cookbooks

Guy is the author of many New York Times best-selling cookbooks packed with original recipes, full-color photos and culinary tips. Some of the cookbooks feature profiles of great American restaurants and their owners and stories told by Guy and his "krew," people who work on his Food Network shows and in his restaurants.

In March 2025, Guy made a cameo appearance in DC Comics' Batman/Superman: World's Finest Issue #37. On the cover of a celebrity version of the issue, he's shown in his usual black T-shirt and sunglasses, leaning out of a red sports car as the superheroes fly overhead.

Guy's Partnerships

In addition to his partnership with Carnival Cruise Lines, Guy collaborates with Master Cigar Blender Erik Espinosa on Fieri's Knuckle Sandwich, a line of premium cigars handmade in Nicaragua. Guy Fieri Knuckle Sandwich Knives are made in conjunction with Ergo Chef.

Rock star Sammy Hagar and Guy teamed up to craft Santo Tequila, an additive-free premium tequila made from 100% blue Weber agave.

A line of Flavortown cookware is produced by Guy in partnership with Mon Chateau and Gander Group. Guy also works with Waterloo Sparkling Water on limited-edition flavors of its beverages and with Litehouse Foods to sell Flavortown products.

This celebrity chef's other partnerships include Camp Chef, King’s Hawaiian Bread and OOFOS footwear. In a 2021 prime-time special, Guy’s Restaurant Reboot, Guy teamed up with the National Restaurant Association Education Foundation and the California Restaurant Foundation to help restaurants and diners recover from the COVID-19 economic downturn.

What's Guy Doing Now?

In 2011, Guy launched The Guy Fieri Foundation to teach a new generation of chefs how to cook. It has grown to help support first responders to natural disasters, various law enforcement organizations, a veteran's home in Yountville, California, and VFW posts across the US.

The foundation also helps provide grants and scholarships to aspiring workers in the culinary field and entrepreneurs in hospitality. Along with the Susan and Lawrence Amaturo Giving Fund, it helps promote literacy in Sonoma elementary schools through Read On, Sonoma.

Keep up with Guy on his Instagram, Facebook and X accounts.