Top Earning Chefs

Who wouldn’t want to be a Food Network star?  Who wouldn’t want to have a line of pots and pans for sale at Macy’s?

While most of us are in the kitchen to cook meals and bake goodies for friends and families as part of everyday life, there are those chefs who have “made it big” and make lots and lots of pasta and green–not the kale and spinach kind, either.

Forbes published a list of Top Earning Chefs and I was intrigued…check this out–

Gordon Ramsay, the bristly Brit who yells at kitchen staff and has a television on FOX where he yells at even more people–yeah, he tops the list at earning $38 million/year.  He owns 23 restaurants around the world with his most recent opening in Las Vegas and the Fat Cow is slated to open in LA later this year.

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Next up, Miss 30 Minute Meals herself–Rachel Ray.  She’s the only chef on the list who doesn’t own a restaurant and yet she earns $25 million/year.  That’s a lot of cookbooks and cookie sheets.  She started on the Food Network and also got the Oprah bump.  She’s busy with her daytime talk show, cookbooks, and cookware.  And her line of pet food – Nutrish.

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Thumb’s up to Rachel for proceeds going to animal rescue – over $4 million to date.

I was surprised by this one–Bobby Flay is way down the list at $9 million (still not a bad deal).  He seems to be the hardest working chef on television.  He has a new show on Food Network called 3 Days to Open where he helps new restaurant (or food truck) owners pull it all together and open.  When he’s not writing cookbooks and having a throw-down on TV, he’s owner and executive chef of 12 restaurants!

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The common thread with the top earners on the list?  It’s not enough to own a restaurant–margins are thin that chefs have to diversify their work portfolio to include TV, merchandise, magazines.

Today I won’t make a million dollars to prepare toast and bake cookies, but I’ll be doing these things because I like to and want to.  But I’ll keep day-dreaming about my Food Network show–I’d be the resident baker and the show would be called “Nicole Nummies”. (I’m virtually trademarking that!)

If you were a Food Network star, what would the show be called?