Charles David Ayers, Jr. (born July 5, 1966) is an American chef, cookbook author, and restaurateur. He is the former executive chef for

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

, from 1999 until 2006. His work there was widely publicized in the media, and David Vise's corporate history ''

The Google Story ''The Google Story'' is a book by David Vise and Mark Malseed that takes an in-depth look at the founding of Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, ...

'' contains an entire chapter about him called "Charlie's Place." By the time he left Google in 2006, Ayers and his team of five chefs and 150 employees were serving 4,000 daily lunches and dinners in 10 cafes across the company's headquarters campus in

Mountain View, California Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, it has a population of 82,376. Mountain View was integral to the early history and growth of Silicon Valley, and is the ...

Background

Ayers was born on July 5, 1966, in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and he grew up in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and Parsippany, New Jersey. He graduated from

Parsippany High School Parsippany High School (also known as PHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school, one of two high schools in the township of Parsippany-Troy Hills, in Morris County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Parsippany-Tr ...

in 1985. He worked as a private and personal chef to the band the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...

in the 1980s. Ayers began his professional career in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

working for

Hilton Hotels Hilton Hotels & Resorts (formerly known as Hilton Hotels) is a global brand of full-service hotels and resorts and the flagship brand of American multinational hospitality company Hilton. The original company was founded by Conrad Hilton. As ...

, at their Meadowlands and Parsippany locations in

. Later he left Hilton to attend

culinary school A cooking school is an institution devoted to education in the art and science of cooking and food preparation. There are many different types of cooking schools around the world, some devoted to training professional chefs, others aimed at amate ...

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

Johnson & Wales University Johnson & Wales University (JWU) is a private university with its main campus in Providence, Rhode Island. Founded as a business school in 1914 by Gertrude I. Johnson and Mary T. Wales, JWU enrolled 7,357 students across its campuses in the fa ...

. He graduated from Johnson & Wales in 1990. He cooked at several restaurants in the Providence and

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

areas, before moving to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. He worked as a chef at Silicon Valley restaurants in the 1990s, including Stoddard's Brewhouse in Sunnyvale; as well as at Left at Albuquerque, Blue Chalk Cafe, and the Peninsula Creamery (later known as the Palo Alto Creamery) all in downtown Palo Alto. Ayers worked at Google at the Mountain View, California headquarters as an executive chef, from 1999 until 2006. He got the job at Google by winning a cook-off, after being judged by the company's then 40 employees. Ayers reportedly earned $26 million (USD) from his Google stock options. Ayers started Calafia Café / Calafia Market a Go Go, in operation from January 20, 2009, until August 2018, and it was located at the Town & Country Village shopping center in

Palo Alto Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was estab ...

. The financing to open Calafia Café came from former Google employees and a couple that worked for Cisco Systems Inc.

Publications

* *

References

External links

Chef Charlie Ayers' home page

Calafia restaurant website

Calafia Restaurant Review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayers, Charlie American male chefs American chefs Living people Parsippany High School alumni People from Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey People from the San Francisco Bay Area Cuisine of the San Francisco Bay Area 1966 births Google people People from Palo Alto, California