Tyler Florence (born March 3, 1971) is a chef and television host of several

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...

shows. He graduated from the College of Culinary Arts at the

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

, campus of

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 ...

in 1991. He was later given an honorary

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

from the university for his culinary success. He is the owner and executive chef of Wayfare Tavern in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Professional career

Television

Florence was a presenter on ''

Globe Trekker ''Globe Trekker'' (sometimes called ''Pilot Guides'' in Australia and Thailand, and originally broadcast as ''Lonely Planet'') was a British adventure tourism television series produced by Pilot Productions. The British series was inspired b ...

'', hosted '' Food 911'' and ''

How to Boil Water ''How to Boil Water'' is an American television program. One of the first shows on the Food Network, it began broadcasting in 1993 and was first hosted by Hitu Desai. The focus of the show is simple cooking, as the show's title suggests, and is ...

'', co-hosted ''

Worst Cooks in America ''Worst Cooks in America'' is an American reality television series that premiered on January3, 2010, on Food Network. The show takes 12 to 16 contestants (referred to as "recruits") with very poor cooking skills through a culinary boot camp, t ...

'' with

Anne Burrell Anne W. Burrell (born September 21, 1969) is an American chef, television personality, and former instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education. She is the host of the Food Network show '' Secrets of a Restaurant Chef'' and co-host of ''Wors ...

and currently hosts ''Tyler's Ultimate'', ''

The Great Food Truck Race ''The Great Food Truck Race'' is a reality television and cooking series that originally aired on August 15, 2010, on Food Network, with Tyler Florence as the host. Billed as a cross between Cannonball Run and Top Chef ''Top Chef'' is an Ame ...

,'' and ''Bite Club'' on the

. Florence was a judge on ''Worst Cooks in America'' for seasons 6, 8, 12–13, and 15-present. Additionally in 2007, Florence and fellow chef Joey Altman co-hosted a celebrity chef cook-off to benefit

Afterschool Alliance The Afterschool Alliance is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization in the United States whose mission is "to ensure that all children have access to affordable, quality afterschool programs." It uses communications and advocacy strategies to increa ...

. Outside of his work as presenter, he was featured on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

TV show ''

Shaq's Big Challenge ''Shaq's Big Challenge'' is a reality television, reality television show hosted by Shaquille O'Neal that debuted on American Broadcasting Company, ABC with its first episode on June 26, 2007, and concluded its first season on July 31, 2007. It fea ...

'', which aired on July 17, 2007, and '' Momma's Boys'', a reality show produced by

Ryan Seacrest Ryan John Seacrest (born December 24, 1974) is an American media personality and producer. He is the co-host of ''Live with Kelly and Ryan'', as well as the host of multiple media shows including ''American Idol'', ''American Top 40'', and '' ...

. He has also appeared on ''

The Oprah Winfrey Show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', often referred to as ''The Oprah Show'' or simply ''Oprah'', is an American daytime broadcast syndication, syndicated talk show that aired nationally for 25 seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in Chicag ...

'' in a nationwide Sandwich Showdown. He has appeared a number of times on ''

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was ...

'', and was featured on '' The View'' in 2008. Florence serves on the board of the national nonprofit

, an organization that works to promote and to support quality after-school programs. In 2023, Florence appeared on the reality TV series ''Special Forces: World's Toughest Test''. He voluntarily left the show in the first episode.

Multimedia

In 2018, Florence directed a documentary about the

2017 California Wildfires In terms of property damage, 2017 was the most destructive wildfire season on record in California at the time, surpassed by only the 2018 season and the 2020 season, with a total of 9,560 fires burning of land, according to the California Dep ...

called ''Uncrushable''. It features first-person footage of first responders and interviews with those directly affected by the disaster. Florence also created a podcast called ''Wolf it Down'' where he interviewed several players in the food and tech space. Florence has also appeared as a guest on the Barfly Podcast on March 3, 2021

Restaurants

In 1997 Florence worked as a chef at Restaurant 147 on West 15th Street, New York. In 2008, he developed a plan to open Bar Florence, in the Hotel Vertigo in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. In 2009 he opened a small chain of luxury kitchen supply stores in

Northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...

and developed four new restaurant concepts for the area: Wayfare Tavern in downtown San Francisco (formerly, Rubicon restaurant); Rotisserie & Wine (closed), a fast food restaurant in downtown Napa; with

Sammy Hagar Samuel Roy Hagar (born October 13, 1947), also known as the Red Rocker, is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He rose to prominence in the early 1970s with the hard rock band Montrose and subsequently launched a successful solo car ...

, El Paseo (closed) in downtown

Mill Valley, California Mill Valley is a city in Marin County, California, Marin County, California, United States, located about north of San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge and from Napa Valley. The population was 14,231 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 ...

, an American tavern featuring ingredients only from

Marin County Marin County is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is acros ...

; and a new modern American steak house, Miller & Lux that was opened as part of San Francisco's

Chase Center Chase Center is an indoor arena in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The building is the home venue for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and occasionally for the University of San ...

Other

In 2008, Florence was named the Dean of Culinary Education at

Copia Copia may refer to: * Copia Vineyards and Winery, a premium winery in Paso Robles, California * Copia (or Copiae), the ancient city and bishopric also called Thurii or Thurium, now a Latin Catholic titular *COPIA, a metal band from Melbourne, Aust ...

, a now-defunct museum in

Napa, California Napa is the largest city and county seat of Napa County and a principal city of Wine Country in Northern California. Located in the North Bay region of the Bay Area, the city had a population of 77,480 as of the end of 2021. Napa is a major t ...

Personal life

Florence married his wife Tolan Clark in 2006. Florence has 3 children. In 2007 Florence and his wife moved from New York City to Mill Valley, north of San Francisco, where in July 2008 Florence opened an

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

ously named retail kitchen store.

Books

*''Real Kitchen'', 2003 *''Eat This Book: Cooking With Global Fresh Flavors'', 2005 *''Tyler's Ultimate: Brilliant Simple Food to Make Any Time'', 2006 *''Stirring the Pot'', 2008 *''Dinner at My Place'', 2008 *''Family Meal'', 2010 *''Start Fresh: Your Child's Start to Lifelong Healthy Eating'', 2011 *''Tyler Makes Pancakes'', with Craig Frazier, 2012 *''Tyler Florence Fresh'', 2012 *''Tyler Makes Spaghetti,'' with Craig Frazier, 2013 *''Inside The Test Kitchen,'' 2014

References

Fresh 2012

External links

Tyler Florence - Food Network Biography

Tyler Florence Official Homepage

Blog at San Francisco Chronicle

Tyler Florence Recipes, Videos, and More
at AOL Food
Tyler Florence
at the Chef and Restaurant Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Florence, Tyler 1971 births American male chefs American television chefs American food writers Living people Writers from Greenville, South Carolina Johnson & Wales University alumni Food Network chefs