Chef Andrew Gruel
Chef Andrew Gruel is one of America’s most popular and beloved celebrity chefs. In fact, he’s been dubbed as “America’s Chef”, not just for his media and TV appearances or for his innovative culinary creativity, but because he’s a chef of the people and for the people. Reason Magazine had said “Chef Andrew Gruel just might be the patron saint of restaurateurs, small-business owners, and service workers during the pandemic.” And why would they say that? Because when the lockdowns happened in 2020 and the government forced so many restaurants to shut down, Chef Gruel started a fund in December 2020 to raise money for out-of-work restaurant workers, raising over $230,000 in the first three weeks alone. The fund, called 86 Restaurant Struggle, raised over Half A MILLION DOLLARS for the displaced and out of work restaurant employees that found themselves without a job, during the holiday season, no less. It is also worth mentioning that Chef Gruel via his one of his many restaurants, gave away thousands of free meals during that time – either as an outright free meal, or in food giveaways and charitable donations. Andrew was very outspoken at the time, because regulations that closed restaurants came well before help from the government was available, leaving restaurant workers across the state with no way to earn an income. For those who worked paycheck to paycheck, it was a very trying time, and Andrew had to help.
Helping out workers isn’t the only cause our Celebrity Chef Speaker Andrew Gruel is involved in. As an environmentalist, he loves to discuss how aquaculture is beneficial for fish stocks, and how oceanic aquaculture is good for the environment and the surrounding communities that work in aquaculture, the jobs it brings and the sustainable, healthy food it provides; in fact, Chef Gruel has consulted with governments around the world about sustainable aquaculture; but beyond that, beyond helping struggling workers or improving the environment – beyond all that, at heart, Andrew’s passion is for his family and for his community, his country, and of course – for cooking up amazing food for his restaurant patrons and for TV audiences.