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Andrew Zimmern

Keynote Speaker

Celebrity Chefs & Culinary Experts Entrepreneurs Lifestyle Motivational Nutrition Overcoming Adversity Wellness

Andrew Zimmern is an Emmy-winning and four-time James Beard Award-winning TV personality, chef, writer, and social justice advocate.

Entrepreneurs Wellness Nutrition Lifestyle Motivational Overcoming Adversity Celebrity Chefs & Culinary Experts

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Meet Andrew Zimmern

Andrew Zimmern is an Emmy-winning and four-time James Beard Award-winning TV personality, chef, writer, and social justice advocate. As the creator, executive producer, and host of the Bizarre Foods franchise, Magnolia Network’s Family Dinner, the Emmy-winning The Zimmern List, and MSNBC’s What’s Eating America, Andrew has spent his career using food as a vehicle to foster cultural acceptance and understanding. His newest series, Andrew Zimmern’s Wild Game Kitchen, explores the world of open-fire cooking, while Field to Fire brings his expertise to outdoor culinary adventures.

Andrew is also a highly sought-after speaker, lending his expertise to conversations about food sustainability, global hunger, and the intersection of culture and cuisine. He has graced the stages of Google, SXSW, TIME 100, and The Welcome Conference, inspiring audiences with his insights and personal journey. Andrew Zimmern is available to be booked for corporate and private events. Contact the Mollie Plotkin Group today to inquire about Andrew Zimmern’s fees.

Want to book Andrew Zimmern for an event?

Contact the Mollie Plotkin Group at 215-995-0905 to book Andrew Zimmern for a keynote speech, corporate event, leadership program, workshop, fireside chat, virtual appearance, or other private or professional event.

Our team will help confirm Andrew Zimmern’s availability, speaking fee, travel requirements, and fit for your audience. To start the booking process, please share your event date, location, audience size, event format, and the type of presentation you are looking for.

The Mollie Plotkin Group is a full-service keynote speaker agency and entertainment bureau that helps organizations secure keynote speakers, entertainers, athletes, celebrities, and thought leaders for corporate meetings, conferences, fundraisers, and special events.

Biography

A Culinary Calling

From a young age, Andrew Zimmern knew he was destined for a life in food. After attending The Dalton School and Vassar College, he honed his skills in New York City’s top restaurants, working under culinary legends like Anne Rosenzweig, Joachim Splichal, and Thomas Keller. However, despite his early success, Andrew struggled with addiction, a battle that left him homeless for a year. A life-changing intervention led him to the Hazelden Treatment Center in Minnesota, where he embraced sobriety and rebuilt his life. He started over as a dishwasher at Café Un Deux Trois in Minneapolis, eventually rising to executive chef and transforming the restaurant into a nationally recognized culinary destination.

Breaking Into Media

Zimmern’s innovative menus caught the attention of local media, leading to regular television appearances and, eventually, a career in broadcasting. In 2006, Bizarre Foods premiered on the Travel Channel, launching him into international fame. The franchise, which includes Bizarre World, Bizarre Foods America, and Bizarre Foods: Delicious Destinations, has taken Andrew to over 170 countries, exploring global cuisines and the cultural stories behind them. He has also appeared on Food Network’s All-Star Academy, Beat Bobby Flay, Bobby’s Triple Threat, 24 in 24, Wildcard Kitchen, Out Chef’d, and the original Iron Chef.

In 2014, Andrew founded Intuitive Content, a full-service production company specializing in television, digital content, and brand-driven storytelling. Named one of the world’s top 100 production companies (Top 10 in the lifestyle category) by Realscreen, Intuitive Content has produced Emmy-winning series such as The Zimmern List, as well as acclaimed projects like MSNBC’s What’s Eating America, Magnolia Network’s Family Dinner, and Outdoor Channel’s Wild Game Kitchen and Field to Fire.

Lastly, Andrew is the author of four books—The Bizarre Truth, Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre World of Food, Andrew Zimmern’s Field Guide to Exceptionally Weird, Wild & Wonderful Food, and AZ and the Lost City of Ophir, which won the Gold Independent Publisher Book Award in Juvenile Fiction.

Innovating in Hospitality

Beyond TV and books, Andrew is a leader in hospitality innovation. In 2015, he launched Passport Hospitality, a consulting firm that develops unique culinary concepts, including Andrew Zimmern’s Canteen at Target Field and Patty & Frank’s in Atlanta’s Chattahoochee Food Works. Andrew’s partnership with chef Gavin Kaysen resulted in KZ Provisioning, which provides performance-driven nutrition for the Minnesota Timberwolves, Minnesota Lynx, and Minnesota Wild. He also played a key role in food service development for the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream in Washington, D.C.

A Voice for Change

Andrew’s impact also extends to dedicated advocacy for sustainable food systems, global hunger relief, and social justice. He serves as a Global Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations World Food Programme and The Nature Conservancy, as well as the International Rescue Committee’s Voice for Nutrition. He co-founded the Independent Restaurant Coalition and the Coalition for Sustainable Aquaculture, fighting for policies that protect both restaurant workers and the environment.

A sought-after thought leader, Andrew has contributed to White House initiatives on hunger and nutrition and works closely with organizations like City Harvest, Services for the UnderServed, and the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project. Through Andrew Zimmern’s Second Chances Scholarships, he helps aspiring chefs overcome personal hardships to pursue careers in the culinary arts.

Hire Andrew Zimmern

Named one of “America’s 50 Most Powerful People in Food” by The Daily Meal, one of the “30 Most Influential People in Food” by Adweek, and one of Fast Company’s “Most Creative People in Business,” Andrew Zimmern continues to shape the culinary world through storytelling, advocacy, and innovation.

Andrew has spoken with Google, The Near Future Conference, SXSW, the TIME 100, The Welcome Conference, and many more on the intersections of food, culture, and the future. Whether he’s exploring new cultures through food, mentoring the next generation of chefs, or using his platform to drive meaningful change, Andrew’s mission remains the same: to connect people through the universal language of food.

How to Hire Andrew Zimmern

To hire Andrew Zimmern for an event, contact the Mollie Plotkin Group with the proposed event date, location, audience size, event format, and program goals. Andrew Zimmern is available for corporate events, conferences, leadership meetings, private events, workshops, fireside chats, and virtual programs.

After receiving your request, a Mollie Plotkin Group booking agent will review Andrew Zimmern’s availability, discuss the event details, and get back to you within 48 hours with next steps for securing Andrew Zimmern for your program.

Andrew Zimmern Booking Fee

The cost to book Andrew Zimmern depends on the event date, location, format, audience size, and scope of the appearance. Speaking fees may vary for keynote speeches, workshops, fireside chats, private events, corporate meetings, and virtual programs.

For the most accurate Andrew Zimmern booking fee, contact the Mollie Plotkin Group with your event details. Our team will help confirm availability, pricing, and the best format for your event.

Speaking Topics & Programs

Food + Activism = Global Change

World-renowned chef Andrew Zimmern has explored the great global food scene and shares incredible stories from his journeys around the world with a powerful prescriptive message of sustainability, equity, and global citizenship. Zimmern believes you really can change the planet one meal at a time. His talks are enlightening and always entertaining as he inspires audiences to learn about the world and other cultures from the perspective of the board room and the dinner table.

Overcoming Adversity: Becoming a Resilient Leader

Andrew shares his deeply personal journey with addiction and sobriety and how he found his calling to tell stories through food and travel adventures. Balancing personal and professional moments of adversity, Andrew inspires perseverance and teaches audiences how to become better leaders through resilience. From navigating uncertainty to “co-regulating before operationalizing” to learning how to “act your way into right thinking,” Zimmern’s message is a blend of personal experience and his prescription for resiliency and success.

Virtual Interactive Cooking Demos with Andrew Zimmern

World-renowned chef Andrew Zimmern knows how to engage your virtual audience and create magical events from his professional cooking studio. He can even share the recipes in advance so guests can have the thrill of cooking along with Andrew. While he cooks, he chats about his insights into what food says about us as people, families, and a country as well as the many projects he is working on to bring us closer together through food.

Food: A Global Perspective on the State of our Food Life

Andrew takes you with him for a whirlwind tour of his world travels, informing and entertaining, as he connects the audience to both his “boots on the ground” experience and his philosophies for food and life. His amazing stories cover everything from the great global food scene to how you really can change the planet one meal at a time. Inspiring, enlightening, and always entertaining, Andrew shows that the world is truly getting smaller and that the best place to learn about it, and other cultures, is at the dinner table.

The Adventure of Recovery

Stay far away from what William James called the evil of “contempt prior to investigation.” Andrew has used this motto as a bedrock of his personal and professional life. While most people know him as the host of his own wildly popular TV show, they might not know that he is also a survivor of drug addiction, alcoholism, and homelessness. Now in his 21st year of sobriety, his inspiring and funny story is a prescription for hope that applies to anyone.

Andrew grew up on the upper east side of NYC, was a daily drug user from the age of 15, and lay dying in a hospital bed at age 21 of acute alcohol poisoning. He continued to abuse drugs and alcohol for another 10 years before going homeless in 1990. Drinking himself to death in a flop house hotel in January of 1992, he had a life-changing experience that saw him check into rehab, sober up, and stay clean.

After devoting himself to helping others, his life changed, and his show Bizarre Foods is a direct result of his channeling that life choice. Andrew combines his personal and professional stories in an audio and video presentation detailing his fall and rise, his experiences in recovery, and how those lessons have informed his life as a husband, adoptive father, and activist for the social issues he holds dear.