Grant Achatz's net worth in 2024 is quite high, and since appearing on The Bear — set in Chicago where his famous Alinea restaurant is based—it's likely only going to get higher.
The award-winning chef, a pioneer of molecular gastronomy, says the key to his success is patience.
"It takes long days and several years of learning in order to become successful in this industry. It is very much a hands-on discipline, a craft that has to be honed and requires a magnitude of hard work and dedication," he told the S. Pellegrino Young Chef Academy in 2015. "It is not like a software or product engineer that creates one product and sells millions of them for billions. Every day you start over, ideally every day you refine the previous day, and every day you learn something new."
He added, "Most young chefs see the TV personalities like Gordon Ramsay , Bobby Flay and so on and think that happens quickly and with less work. The reality is all of those guys worked very hard to become great chefs before they entered the world of television."
And so did Achatz. Find out how he made his fortune.
Related: Every Guest Star In The Bear Season 3
How did Grant Achatz become famous?
Achatz, who was born and raised in Michigan, grew up in what he called a "restaurant family."
"My mother and father owned a restaurant. My grandmother owned a restaurant. A lot of my uncles and aunts owned a restaurant. I grew up in the environment. It just felt very comfortable," he told Diced . "It wasn't like this great epiphany where as a 15-year-old student I said, 'I want to become a chef someday.' It was just growing up in the kitchen, learning the culture and understanding it, and doing it."
Achatz attended The Culinary Institute of America in New Hyde Park, New York, where he refined his skills. It was there, he says, that he learned that "food can be kind of an artistic medium versus just feeding people."
When he graduated from culinary school, Achatz worked at Charlie Trotter's in Chicago, then moved to California, where he worked under mentor Thomas Keller at The French Laundry, eventually working his way up to sous chef.
In 2001, Achatz went back to Illinois, where he served as executive chef at Trio, where he earned the restaurant five Mobil Travel Guide stars (from its previous four) within three years.
His star soared in May 2005, when he and his business partner, Nick Kokonas, launched Alinea in Chicago. Alinea seats only about 60 guests (spread through its three levels—The Gallery, The Salon and the Kitchen Table) for a tasting menu, typically ranging from a dozen to more than 25 courses. It was an immediate hit thanks to Achatz's conscious effort to tell a story with each course of a meal using molecular gastronomy.
"What makes the food that we do at Alinea so interesting on the outside is that we really don't let ourselves say no to an idea," Achatz told NPR in 2011. "When we start looking at things really critically or even very simply, we realize that there's more than one way to actually get the same results ... You're deconstructing the components of a course and putting them back together."
In 2007, Achatz was dealt a massive blow: He was diagnosed with stage 4 tongue cancer that metastasized to his throat and neck. He had only a 50% chance of surviving for another two years.
Instead of opting for surgery that would remove his tongue and replace it with another muscle from elsewhere in his body, Achatz underwent treatment at the University of Chicago with radiation and chemotherapy. His taste buds were destroyed and his esophagus burned, but he went into full remission. He eventually regained his sense of taste, albeit slowly.
While he wouldn't wish what he went through on anyone else, Achatz told NPR it may have actually made him even more skilled in the kitchen than he was already.
"I started from zero [sense of taste], and the first thing back was sweet, so my palate developed just as a newborn — but I was 32 years old. So I could understand how flavors were coming back and how they synergized together," he recalled. "It was very educational for me. I don't recommend it, but I think it made me a better chef because now I really understand how flavor works."
Alinea has three Michelin stars, won a James Beard Award for Best Restaurant and has been named one of the — if not the — best restaurants in Chicago, the United States and the world since its inception. The menu has changed a bit over the years, and Achatz said it's gotten simpler.
"A good cook will understand nuances in layers of flavors through seasoning: maybe it’s acid, spice, bitterness," Achatz told The New York Times . "We want to keep that going. How do we season with sound? With light? With elements of emotions? For us, that makes the experience more complex and nuanced."
Related: The Bear Star and Chef Matty Matheson's Net Worth and How He Made It
What is Grant Achatz's net worth in 2024?
Grant Achatz's net worth in 2024 isn't known. In 2023, it was estimated at $3 million, with other sources placing it at $5 million and $4 million , though none of those figures have been substantiated well. Take them all with a grain of really expensive salt.
Related: Wolfgang Puck's Net Worth for His Oscar-Worthy Work
What is the cost of a meal at Alinea?
Let's rip off the band-aid: It ain't cheap. Meals at Alinea will reportedly set you back anywhere between $295 and $500 per person.
While that's really pricey, Achatz acknowledges that and explained that some of why it's so costly is that paying his large staff isn't cheap, either.
"There's a reason why we're expensive: Because it costs a lot of money to do what we do," Achatz told Diced . "People think that we're expensive because we can charge it and people will pay it because of our reputation or the awards that we have won. No. Anybody who walks in the restaurant and looks into that kitchen realizes that there's 26 people back there and they're all getting paid."
"People expect and demand high-quality ingredients, organic ingredients, ingredients that come from a farm that only produces five pounds of butter a week. People love that. They expect it. They demand it. They also don't know what that costs," he added. "With all of these things come high cost and high overhead. So you have to charge for it. That's one disadvantage of what we do, is that it does cost a lot and we do have to charge a lot. You exclude a certain amount of people."
Related: How Much Would It Cost to Eat at The Bear ?
Is Grant Achatz a good chef?
It's safe to say yes: He was named one of Food & Wine 's Best New Chefs in 2002, won the James Beard Foundation Award for Rising Star Chef of the Year in 2003, Best Chef: Great Lakes in 2007 and Outstanding Chef in 2008. He won the Jean Banchet Award for Best Celebrity Chef in 2007 and was featured in the TIME 100 in 2011. This is in addition to the nearly countless awards Alinea has won for Achatz's work.
Related: Jeremy Allen White's Net Worth From The Bear , The Iron Claw and More
How hard is it to get into Alinea?
Very. Even if you can afford to eat there, you'll pretty much never be able to just walk in. You have to book in advance ( you can do so online here ), and typically you'll have to reserve a month or more in advance.
If you do get a reservation and can't make it? Well, don't expect a refund unless you can document a very valid excuse for your absence. Kokonas told Chicago magazine , "If someone claims their plane was delayed, we just say, 'Send me your flight info.' We have No-Show Bingo.”
Related: David Chang's Net Worth From Momofuku and More
Is Alinea profitable?
According to Chicago magazine , Alinea isn't just profitable, it's profitable at a higher margin than most other restaurants: Alinea typically has a profit margin of about 12%, more than double the restaurant industry goal of 5%. That said, those estimates were from 2011, so figures may have changed since then.
Next up: Bobby Flay's Red Velvet Hot Chocolate is a Divine Dessert Mash-Up You Can't Beat
Most Popular
Comments / 0