Andrew Gruel

Andrew Gruel
Born (1980-07-12) July 12, 1980
Bridgewater, New Jersey
Education Bates College
Johnson & Wales University
Spouse(s) Lauren Gruel (m. 2013)
Children 2
Website chefgruel.com

Culinary career

Cooking style Seafood

Andrew Gruel (born July 12, 1980) is an American chef and television personality, based in Orange County, California. He has appeared as a judge on Food Network's Food Truck Face Off and as a host of FYI's Say It To My Face!, and is the founder, CEO and executive chef of Slapfish, a sustainable seafood restaurant franchise based out of Huntington Beach, California.

Early life and education

Gruel was born and raised in Bridgewater, New Jersey.[1] He has said that his affinity towards cooking started at an early age, when he would fake sick to stay home from school and watch cooking shows on public-access television.[2] While attending Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, he worked in lobster restaurants in the area.[3] He received his culinary degree from Johnson & Wales University's College of Culinary Arts.[4]

Career

Cooking

Gruel began his career working in fine dining restaurants, hotels and diners in New Jersey,[5] as a cook at the Ritz Carlton in Boston[4][6] and at Jack's of New London in New London, New Hampshire.[4] He left the East Coast in 2009 to work as director of Seafood for the Future, a nonprofit program at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California, which educates chefs, restaurants and consumers about sustainable, healthy seafood.[1][7]

Slapfish restaurant

Through his interactions with fisherman and chefs at the aquarium program, Gruel realized the need for high-quality, chef-driven sustainable seafood in Southern California.[2] In May 2011, he founded Slapfish as a few food trucks in the Los Angeles and Orange County area, serving boat-to-plate modern seafood shack food.[5][8][9] In April 2012, Gruel converted the food truck concept into a brick-and-mortar Slapfish restaurant in Huntington Beach, serving fast-casual sustainable seafood.[5][8] A Laguna Beach location was opened in 2014.[10] In total, there are six Slapfish locations in Southern California, two company-owned and four franchised, including one in Newport Beach and another at Los Angeles International Airport.[11][12]

In 2013, Slapfish signed a deal to build 75 franchises in the Middle East over the next 10 years.[1] In July 2014, Slapfish set up its first Middle East outlet at the Ibn Battuta Mall in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.[13] Gruel has hosted sustainable seafood pop-ups in New York and Chicago, and plans on opening Slapfish locations in New York by the end of 2016.[14][15]

Slapfish has been awarded three out of four stars by the Green Restaurant Association, one of only a few restaurants in Orange County to have earned the distinction.[1] Slapfish was named to CBS Los Angeles' 2016 list of the 15 best restaurants in Orange County.[16]

Television

Gruel's first television appearance was on the BBC show The Endless Feast in 2007.[7] He served as a judge on the Food Channel's Food Truck Face Off in 2014,[2] and has also appeared on Eat St. on the Cooking Channel,[17] Today on NBC,[18] and On the Rocks on the Food Network.[1] In 2015, Gruel starred as a host on season 1 of the reality television show Say It To My Face! The show's premise revolves around the significance of online reviews in the restaurant industry, and how to manage negative feedback. It premiered May 9, 2015 on the FYI network.[19]

Radio

Gruel hosted a culinary radio show called Cooking with Gruel in 2015.[2] He has been a guest host on the weekly The SoCal Restaurant Show on KLAA, which launched in 2012.[20]

Awards and honors

Television appearances

Year Series Network Notes
2007 The Endless Feast BBC Guest
2012 Eat St. Cooking Channel Guest
2013 On the Rocks Food Network Consulting chef
2014 Food Truck Face Off Food Network Judge (season 1, 5 episodes)
Today NBC Guest
2015 Say It To My Face! FYI Host (season 1, 15 episodes)
2016 Home & Family Hallmark Channel Guest (2 episodes)

Personal life

Gruel is married with two children.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Anthony Clark Carpio, "Slapfish set to jump into bigger pond," Los Angeles Times, January 8, 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Featured Chef of the Month, Andrew Gruel of Slapfish!". Tony Reverditto. Food Enthusiast Magazine. 2015-03-15.
  3. ↑ Bret Thorn, "Slapfish co-founder: 'Let’s make seafood sexy again'," Nation's Restaurant News, July 23, 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 John Walters, "Jack's of New London: Where (almost) everybody knows your name," Kearsarge Magazine, Summer 2007, pp. 73-74.
  5. 1 2 3 "Luna: Slapfish to begin franchising". Nancy Luna. O.C. Register. 2014-09-13.
  6. ↑ Nicole Russin-McFarland, "Food Network Featured Andrew Gruel: His Story and How the Slapfish Chain is Set to Conquer the Globe (Minus the 'Austin Powers' Sharks With Laser Beams," The Comeback, December 3, 2014.
  7. 1 2 "Try Amazing Sustainable Seafood at SlapFish". Christine Lynn Williamson. Locale Magazine. 2014-08-25.
  8. 1 2 Anthony Clark Carpio, "Growth proves slow but business leaders have hope," Los Angeles Times, January 8, 2014.
  9. ↑ Constance Gustke, "A Bad Review Is Forever: How to Counter Online Complaints," New York Times, December 9, 2015.
  10. ↑ "New Chefs on the Block," Laguna Beach Magazine, October 27, 2014.
  11. 1 2 Bret Thorn, "MenuMasters 2016 Trendsetter Award: Slapfish," Nation's Restaurant News, April 18, 2016.
  12. ↑ "Slapfish Restaurant Owner Shares Sustainability Campaign," CBS Los Angeles, July 23, 2014.
  13. ↑ Devina Divecha, "US seafood joint Slapfish opens first GCC outlet," Hotelier Middle East, July 24, 2014.
  14. ↑ Serena Dai, "SoCal Seafood Chain Slapfish Hosting Williamsburg Pop-Up in Bid to Expand," DNAinfo.com, October 12, 2015.
  15. ↑ Jeanette Settembre, "Katy Perry dines with Francis Mallmann, 'Brooklyn Wine Book' offers vouchers for bars and restaurants," New York Daily News, October 8, 2015.
  16. ↑ "15 Best Restaurants In Orange County," CBS Los Angeles, March 27, 2016.
  17. ↑ Michelle Woo, "Slapfish To Be Featured On The Cooking Channel's Eat Street Tonight," OC Weekly, August 21, 2012.
  18. ↑ "Grill up seafood! Surf 'n' turf burgers and shrimp cubano," Today, July 30, 2014.
  19. ↑ "Slapfish execs star in reality TV show," Fast Casual, July 15, 2015.
  20. ↑ "About the SoCal Restaurant Show," socalrestaurantshow.com. Accessed June 19, 2016.
  21. ↑ Heidi Kulicke, "40 Under Forty," OC Register Metro, p. 37, May 2014.
  22. ↑ "Top 25 Executives," Fast Casual, May 23, 2016, p. 30.
  23. ↑ "Top 75 Brands," Fast Casual, May 23, 2016, p. 6.

External links

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