Restaurateur and hospitality specialist Will Guidara is a well-known name in the food and hospitality industry. Over the years, Will has achieved immense recognition and success by co-running several high-end award-winning restaurants and chains, including Eleven Madison Park, NoMad New York, NoMad Los Angeles, NoMad Las Vegas, and NoMad Bar. Will is the former co-owner of the Make It Nice hospitality group, which was founded in 2011 by chef Daniel Humm. He is also a co-author of four books and the author of ‘Unreasonable Hospitality,’ published in 2022.
Will Guidara’s involvement as one of the judges of ‘The Big Brunch,’ an HBO Max food competition show, takes him a step closer to people to whom he has tried to spread his message of unreasonable hospitality. The show involves competition among skilled and creative chefs from across the country for a cash prize of $300,000. They get to display their culinary expertise and innovative ideas while sharing their life stories and business plans for the future. Thus, looking at his unique presence on the show, fans of Will must be curious about him, and we’ve covered just that.
From Rising Star to Entrepreneur: Will Guidara’s Hospitality Path
Born and brought up in Sleepy Hollow, New York, Will hails from a loving family comprising his father and renowned restauranteur, Frank Guidara, and his late mother Janet Guidara. Frank is a pioneer of the hospitality industry who held numerous reputable positions in his career and is a well-known leadership mentor who commemorated the phrase, “Adversity is a Terrible Thing to Waste.” His mother, Janet, worked as a flight attendant and inspired many after her before she passed away in 2001 due to brain cancer.
Will is extremely close to his father because while his mother was sick, he raised and took care of him and also gave him several important life lessons. Calling him his mentor, role model, and best friend who is always a phone call away, Will once honored his father by sharing some of his teachings: “’The secret to happiness is always having something to look forward to.’ ‘Ask yourself what right looks like, and do that.” “Adversity is a terrible thing to waste.’ ‘What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?” He’s just the best. I LOVE YOU DAD!’”
Will attended the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration and graduated in 2001. Inspired by his father, Will got into the dining room career with Wolfgang Puck’s Spago in Beverly Hills. He then joined the Union Square Hospitality Group, where he assumed various roles over time. Will went up the ladder when he purchased Eleven Madison Park from Union Square Hospitality Group in 2011 along with Chef Daniel Humm as part of the Make It Nice hospitality group they co-established.
After opening up and running a few other restaurants for years, Will and Daniel ended their partnership in 2019 when Daniel bought out Will. The latter co-founded the Welcome Conference in 2014 and is also the founder of a hospitality company named thank you.
Will Guidara’s Wife
Will Guidara is happily married to a talented chef and cookbook author, Christina Tosi. The couple got married on July 30, 2016, and celebrated their union in the presence of their friends and family in a camp-themed wedding at Cedar Lakes Estate in Port Jervis, New York. The couple is now parents to their 1-year-old daughter, Francis Ray, AKA Frankie, and live together in their Flatiron penthouse in New York with their furry dog, Butter. Christina is the co-owner and chef of the famous chain of dessert and bakery restaurants, Milk Bar, along with Momofuku.
Christina has also taken up the role of a judge for several cooking competitions, such as Fox’s ‘MasterChef,’ season 4 of ‘MasterChef Junior,’ and as a presenter for the Netflix series ‘Bake Squad.’ Christina is also the recipient of the title “Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink,” granted in 2014 by Food and Wine Magazine. Thus, we only wish Will and his family more happiness and success in the future.
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