What It's Really Like To Work At The Food Network
If you consider yourself a hardcore Food Network fan, the thought of what it must be like to work behind-the-scenes at the famous cable channel might have crossed your mind once or twice. Maybe you stay up to date with all of the trending recipes on its website or you know each of the celebrity chefs' (and their families') names by heart — or maybe you're just curious about what happens over there. So, we've gathered some insight from its stars (via Food Network) and employees (via Glassdoor) about what it's like working at Food Network.
On Glassdoor, the company has a 4.2 out of five star rating with 74 percent of its employees being willing to recommend working there to a friend. We scoured through the company's most recent reviews and found that most of them rated their experience between four and five stars. Most of the positive reviews touted its great work environment, friendly coworkers, and awesome benefits. The negative reviews complained of a lack of diversity, little room for growth, and a dark office with few windows — although it seems the pros of working at the Food Network vastly outweigh many of its cons.
What the stars think of working at the Food Network
So, we know what the behind-the-scenes employees of the company think of working there, but what about the stars? Contrary to how it might seem, it's not all glitz and glamour. "There's a lot to remember and a lot to do, and it's a tough job, and connecting with audiences is tough," says Giada De Laurentiis. "And it's even tougher when you don't have an audience out there and you're making up this whole song and dance in front of the camera."
Bobby Flay and Duff Goldman share similar opinions as De Laurentiis. "Expect to work incredibly hard, much harder than you've ever worked in your life," says Goldman. "Expect to have to keep grooming yourself [too] ... They're like, 'Hey, you have to shave today.'" Flay adds, "It's a lot of work. It's a job, though ... you have to, like, be on time, be a professional, do your job, treat the people around you really well. Just all the things you would do with any other job. Just because it's on TV doesn't change that."