How Many Restaurants Does Bobby Flay Actually Own?
When you hear the words "celebrity chef," there's probably a good chance that Bobby Flay is the first person who comes to mind. From providing cooking tips for home chefs to crafting world-class cuisine, the chef has built a culinary empire from the ground up. Flay was a member of the French Culinary Institute's first-ever graduating class in 1984. Then, in 1993, the James Beard Foundation named Flay "Rising Star Chef of the Year." (Flay has since won two more James Beard awards.) In 2015, he was the first chef in history to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, per his website. Today, Flay is a multi-Emmy award winner and Culinary Hall of Fame inductee. He's written 14 cookbooks and hosted an impressive lineup of television shows, including Iron Chef America, Boy Meets Grill, Food Nation, and more. In summary, this is a person who has accomplished a lot — and who knows a lot about cooking.
One way Bobby Flay has brought his culinary expertise to fans is by becoming a restauranteur. "I think everybody at some point in time has thought to themselves, 'I have a really great idea for a restaurant,'" says Flay, and the chef himself is no exception. In fact, it's where he spends most of his time. "I spend 80% of my time in my restaurants," Flay explains. "Taping my TV shows doesn't take much time, and then they get aired a lot." So, how many restaurants does he actually own?
Bobby Flay owns six total restaurants
Bobby Flay currently has six total restaurants: five Bobby's Burgers locations and one standalone restaurant called Amalfi.
Amalfi is a Mediterranean restaurant inspired by the chef's own travels to Italy. The dinner-only spot is located inside the iconic Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. Plates fall in the $25-$40 range, and seafood and pasta are the focal points of the menu. Many of the dishes combine the two, like squid ink fettuccine and bucatini with red clam sauce. To showcase its offerings, Amalfi is outfitted with a sprawling seafood display to show guests the day's catch.
Flay's made-to-order burger restaurant chain, Bobby's Burgers, opened in 2008. In faithful burger-joint fashion, the menu consists of burgers, fries, a fried chicken sandwich, and an array of milkshakes. Flay himself calls Bobby's Burgers "a very American concept." There's also a list of breakfast offerings. The chain is open to franchising and currently has five locations spread across Vegas and the East Coast. There are Bobby's Burgers in Caesar's Palace food court (not far from Amalfi), in Atlantic City, in Harrah's Las Vegas, in Paris Las Vegas, and inside Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. It's affordable, too: at the Atlantic City location, a burger runs for just $11.99.
In addition to all of these, Flay used to own even more restaurants. Shark, Mesa Grill, Gato, and Bobby Flay's Steak have all shuttered their doors –- but clearly, the chef has lots of other enterprises keeping him busy.