Over the past couple of decades, you’ve probably seen quite a bit of Alton Brown on television, explaining recipes and cracking jokes. You may even keep track of Alton Brown’s cooking tips you should know by heart. You’ve never eaten at one of his restaurants though — he doesn’t have any. Unlike other famous chefs such as Gordon Ramsey, who owns way more restaurants than you realize across the United States and Europe, Brown doesn’t have any fancy eateries to his name. When asked about that, Brown has a sardonic answer as to why.
Back in 2022, Brown was interviewed by the Ohio-based news website Cleveland.com. When asked a question about how restaurants might change in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, Brown began his answer with a note that restaurant management was not his specific area of expertise. According to Brown: “I don’t have the insight of actually owning a restaurant. I’ve never owned one. I’ve never wanted to work that hard.”
Alton Brown’s busy schedule
This isn’t to say that Brown has tons of time on his hands; he’s kept busy over the years even without a restaurant. He’s most known for his television show “Good Eats” on the Food Network, which he first started back in 1999. Since then, he’s taken some breaks from the show for tours and plenty of other television appearances where he discusses cooking.
That said, Brown has frequently shared his thoughts on different restaurants over the years, often based on places he’s stopped at while traveling. He’s known for discussing a fairly wide range of cuisines, and Alton Brown even has a fast food restaurant which passes his vibe check: Arby’s, as he once said in an exclusive interview with Chowhound. Despite all of his thoughts on restaurants, and being married to a restaurant designer, Brown’s never felt the spark to get his own eatery going.
