Estimated Net Worth: $3.5 million
Restaurant: Coqueta
As Seen On: Season by Season
Michael Chiarello was one of the more memorable contestants on “The Next Iron Chef.” His specialty is fusing Italian and Californian cuisine. In addition to that, the fusion king is also the face of the Food Network show “Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello.” But it’s not just food that Chiarello is an expert in. He has also had quite a flair for wine-making and hosts the Fine Living Network show “NapaStyle.”
His love for wine has led him to open up a line of wineries and vineyards in California. Of course, that’s not all he has in Cali. The famous tapas restaurant, Coqueta. He also has a hand in a few furniture and cookware enterprises. He also has a line of wineries and vineyards and is a purveyor of cookware, furniture, and food.
Magnus Nilsson
Estimated Net Worth: $2 million
Restaurant: Faviken
As Seen On: The Mind of a Chef
Swedish chef Magnus Nilsson started out with humble beginnings as a cook on his grandmother's farm. From then it was a clear upward progression to chef school in Are, and then landed in L'Aprege as the apprentice under Alain Passard. Unfortunately, he was eventually fired for not speaking a word of French, something that's kind of required in France.
Three years later he moved back to Sweden, became disillusioned with the world of cooking, and pursued work as a wine critic. Something in Nilsson felt lost and he made his way back to cooking where he shot to fame with his killer dishes at the Fäviken restaurant — the 57th best restaurant in the world.
Ming Tsai
Estimated Net Worth: $10 million
Restaurant: Blue Ginger
As Seen On: Simply Ming
Celebrity chef Ming Tsai not only has great experience in the kitchen but also has had an impressive Ivy League education in Yael, Cornell, and Le Cordon Bleu. His culinary skills are as diverse as his language skills and he is an expert in Spanish, French, and Mandarin. Tsai grew up around food and learned the tricks of the trade at a young age in his mother's restaurant called Mandarin Kitchen.
Tickling the tastebuds of many, Tsai made a name for himself and got his own show called "Simply Ming." The show aired on PBS and has had eighteen seasons. He also hosts the Fine Living's show "Ming's Quest." Last but not least, the Mandarin king also appeared on "Iron Chef."
Nigella Lawson
Estimated Net Worth: $20 million
Restaurant: N/A
As Seen On: Nigella Bites
Probably seen by most as the British Martha Stewart, Nigella Lawson started out her career in cooking with a bit of resistance to the TV spotlight. Fortunately for us, her on-screen charisma took her pretty far. In 1999 she started with her show "Nigella Bites" which instantly gave her a huge following. She is known for her sensual and flirty hosting style, making watching her bake a cake very fun.
Lawson is known for objecting to the term 'celebrity chef' and embraces easy cooking for everyone. With that said, her simplistic approach earned her quite a nice sum of money. She also has several cookbooks to her name. Her other shows include "Nigella Feasts" (2006-11), and a well-remembered one, "The Taste" (2013-15).
Charlie Ayers
Estimated Net Worth: $45 million
Restaurant: Google
As Seen On: The Google Story
Chefs can pop out of some unexpected places. Charlie Ayers was the head chef at Google, working hard at serving delicious lunches every day to their roughly four thousand employees. The company supplied both lunch and dinner across ten different campuses. Ayers has been such an integral part of the operation of Google that he has a whole chapter devoted to him in the best-selling book "The Google Story."
The Google chef trained in the state of New Jersey. He then moved on to the position of head chef at the Hilton Hotel. Ayers furthered in cooking in Rhode Island at Johnson & Wales. Before his big move to Google, he was based in Boston and Providence. Being at Google has made him $26 million in stock options alone.