Bobby Flay

He married actress Stephanie March in 2005. The couple separated in 2015.

He was born to Irish American parents, Bill and Dorothy Flay who divorced when Bobby was young. He was raised in an affluent neighbourhood.

He loved the kitchen from a young age—he managed his mother’s grocery lists and liked to make snacks after school. He wanted an easy to use oven for Christmas when he was eight.

He was not interested in academic pursuits and dropped out of school when he was 17 years old.

In 1982, he was offered a job of making salads at Joe Allen Restaurant in New York. His father, a partner at the restaurant had ordered the boy to work there. Joe Allen was thoroughly impressed by the young man’s work and arranged for him to attend the French Culinary Institute.

He graduated from the institute in 1984 with a degree in culinary arts. He started working at the Brighton Grill where he was made the executive chef when the executive chef was fired. But he could not manage and quit.

He found work as a chef at Bud and Jams under the renowned restaurateur Jonathan Waxman who introduced Flay to southwestern and Cajun cuisine. He credits Waxman for having greatly influenced his career.

For a short while he tried working as a stockbroker but found the experience to be highly unfulfilling. He started working as the executive chef at the Miracle Grill in 1988 and held the position till 1990.

The restaurateur Jerome Kretchmer who was on the lookout for a southwestern style chef was highly impressed by Flay’s cooking and appointed him as the executive chef at Mesa Grill.

Bobby Flay is a celebrity chef who has hosted a number of television cookery shows, has several cookbooks to his credit and is the owner of an ever-expanding chain of restaurants. In addition he also has his own lines of signature sauces, spices and cookware.