Charlie Ayers

Charles David Ayers, Jr. (born July 5, 1966)[1] is an American chef, cookbook author, and restaurateur. He is the former executive chef for Google, from 1999 until 2006.[2][3][4][5][6] His work there was widely publicized in the media, and David Vise's corporate history The Google Story 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.[7]

Charlie Ayers
Charlie Ayers (2006)
Born
Charles David Ayers, Jr.[1]

(1966-07-05) July 5, 1966
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
EducationJohnson & Wales University

Background

Ayers was born on July 5, 1966, in Chicago[6] and he grew up in Brooklyn, New York[6] and Parsippany, New Jersey.[8] He graduated from Parsippany High School in 1985.[9]

He worked as a private and personal chef to the band the Grateful Dead in the 1980s.[7][10] Ayers began his professional career in New Jersey working for Hilton Hotels, at their Meadowlands and Parsippany locations in New Jersey.

Later he left Hilton to attend culinary school in Providence, Rhode Island at Johnson & Wales University. He graduated from Johnson & Wales in 1990.[1] He cooked at several restaurants in the Providence and Boston areas, before moving to California.

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.[10]

Ayers worked at Google at the Mountain View, California headquarters as an executive chef, from 1999 until 2006.[7] He got the job at Google by winning a cook-off, after being judged by the company's then 40 employees.[7] Ayers reportedly earned $26 million (USD) from his Google stock options.[2]

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, California.[7] The financing to open Calafia Café came from former Google employees and a couple that worked for Cisco Systems Inc.[4]

Publications
  • Ayers, Charlie (2008). Food 2.0: Secrets From the Chef Who Fed Google. DK Cookery General. Penguin. ISBN 9780756643409.
  • Ayers, Charlie (2008). Eat Yourself Smart: Power up your day with recipes from the chef who fed Google. Dorling Kindersley Limited. ISBN 9781405336178.

References
  1. "JWU's Honorary Class of 2014" (PDF). Johnson & Wales University Magazine. Johnson & Wales University: 3. Spring 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-02-20. Retrieved 2017-02-18. Charles David Ayers Jr. '90 / Chef and Owner - Calafia Café/Blue Chalk Café Corporation / Doctor of Culinary Arts
  2. Lusher, Adam (2008-03-23). "Chef lifts lid on Google's recipe for success". www.telegraph.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2011-06-05.
  3. Gold, Amanda (May 7, 2008). "Google chef serves up food for thought". SFGate. San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on 2012-08-05.
  4. Craig, Elise (June 18, 2009). "The man who fed Google". Market Watch. Archived from the original on 2009-06-23.
  5. McCarthy, Caroline (May 12, 2008). "Bringing Google into the kitchen". CNet. Archived from the original on 2017-07-31.
  6. Alexander, Karen (2005-09-20). "From Google to Noodles: A Chef Strikes Out on His Own". The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-02-18.
  7. Kadvany, Elena (August 26, 2018). "Calafia closes in Palo Alto: 'The costs were greater than the take'". Palo Alto Online. Palo Alto Weekly. Archived from the original on 2019-02-08.
  8. Epstein, Nadine (2008). "The Google Seder". Moment. Retrieved 2017-02-18.
  9. "Parsippany High School: Class of 1985". Class Creator. Ann Arbor, Michigan. 2009-04-16. Retrieved 2017-02-18. Charles (Charlie) Ayers
  10. Hollbrook, Stett; Pulcrano, Dan (2009-10-14). "Five Chefs That Matter". Metro Active. Archived from the original on 2009-10-17. Retrieved 2021-04-23.
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