Andrew Zimmern

Making Moves in the Media 

Andrew’s menu at Un Deux Trois drew the attention of media. Local news appearances led to regular TV work as the ‘in-house chef’ on HGTV’s early slate of programming. Eventually he found a job as a features reporter for the local news, became Mpls.St.Paul Magazine’s dining critic and restaurant columnist, and hosted his own drive time radio show. In 2003, Andrew filmed a pilot for the show that ultimately became Bizarre Foods. Since Bizarre Foods first aired in 2006, he’s created the spin offs Bizarre World, Bizarre Foods America and Bizarre Foods: Delicious Destinations.  

In 1997, Andrew founded the Minneapolis-based, multi-media company Food Works, which oversees his digital, print and social initiatives, including podcasting, his website (www.andrewzimmern.com ) and publishing projects. Food Works has grown to include all of Andrew’s consulting work, business development, and holds all his charitable endeavors, board work and business relationship management. 

Published in 2009, Andrew’s first book, The Bizarre Truth, offers a behind-the-scenes look at cultures in his favorite destinations. Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre World of Food: Brains, Bugs and Blood Sausage (2011) gives younger fans a backstage look at his culinary adventures. A book for young adults, Andrew Zimmern’s Field Guide to Exceptionally Weird, Wild, Wonderful Foods (2012) is a pop culture-influenced look at bizarre ingredients. His latest offering, a grade level reader series called Alliance of World Explorers, Volume 1: AZ and the Lost City of Ophir was released in 2019 and won the Gold IPPY in Juvenile Fiction.  

Creating Compelling and Impactful Content 

In 2014, Andrew founded Intuitive Content, a full-service production company that develops and produces dynamic original television and specials, while partnering with companies to create brand-driven series and digital content. Intuitive Content was named one of the top 100 production companies in the world by Realscreen for the past three years in a row. 

In 2020, Intuitive Content created the MSNBC series What’s Eating America, which explores the most provocative stories of our time told from Andrew’s singular perspective with his passion for politics, people, food and travel. In 2021, they premiered Family Dinner on Magnolia Network, which follows Andrew as he discovers how the cultural, regional, and historical facets of who we are inform what and how we eat. In 2023, Family Dinner was nominated for two Emmy awards for Culinary Series and Culinary Host. In 2022, they premiered Andrew Zimmern’s Wild Game Kitchen, and in 2024 they will premiere Field to Fire, both on the Outdoor Channel.   

Intuitive Content’s first television series, Andrew Zimmern’s Driven by Food, premiered on Travel Channel in August 2016. In their second series, The Zimmern List, Andrew reveals his favorite food experiences in cities across the country. In 2020, the show won a Daytime Emmy Award for “Outstanding Travel and Adventure Program.” Other Intuitive Content series include Hope in the Water, Feral, Big Food Truck Tip, Crash Test World, Zoe Bakes and How to Survive a Murder.  

Beyond television, Intuitive Content works with clients on branded entertainment and advertisements, including a partnership with Hy-Vee to produce a digital cooking series Seafood Without the Catch, with Renaissance Hotels to create The Navigator’s Table and with Caribou Coffee to film Behind the ‘Bou. In 2021, they partnered with Cointreau and the Independent Restaurant Coalition to create a Super Bowl ad featuring restaurant workers affected by Covid 19. The ad was awarded a silver Telly. Their digital work includes Andrew in the Kitchen, a companion series to Bizarre Foods that was nominated for a James Beard Award in 2018, Bravo TV’s Beats + Bites with the Potash Twins, instructional cooking classes for Food Network Kitchen and video workshops for Magnolia Network.  

Andrew has appeared on Beat Bobby Flay, Bobby’s Triple Threat and the original Food Network Iron Chef, as a guest judge on episodes of Chopped, Top Chef Masters, Top Chef, and Guy Fieri’s Tournament of Champions.   

Innovative Culinary Concepts and Partnerships  

In 2015, Andrew launched Passport Hospitality, which creates unique culinary concepts and provides consulting services to various restaurant and retail projects. Passport Hospitality oversees several brands, including the hot dog and burger concept Patty & Frank’s, located in Atlanta’s Chattahoochee food hall. His first brick-and-mortar restaurant, Lucky Cricket, opened in 2018 in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. 

Passport Hospitality has partnered with Robert Montwaid and Gansevoort Construction to develop experiential food halls and markets in Atlanta’s recently opened Chattahoochee Food Works. Andrew has also collaborated with Minneapolis chef Gavin Kaysen to create KZ ProVisioning, a unique catering company whose sole clients are professional sports franchises. KZ ProVisioning works with the NHL’s Minnesota Wild, the NBA’s Timberwolves and the WNBA’s Lynx to provide healthy meals to the team’s players, families, coaches, executives and staff. Passport’s largest effort to date is overseeing all food service contracting and development for the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream in Washington DC, opening in 2024.  

Delicious Life 

In 2020 and 2023, Andrew was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Host. He has won James Beard awards for “TV Food Personality” (2010), “TV Program on Location” (2012), and “Outstanding Personality/Host” (2013 and 2017). In 2021, the Taste Awards created a special achievement award, The Andrew Zimmern Discovery Award, that honors his mission to discover new cultures and flavors. Andrew has been 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 as one of Fast Company’s “Most Creative People in Business.” According to Eater, “Zimmern knows more about the foods of the world and the history of modern gastronomy than anyone else in our solar system. He’s a walking, talking food encyclopedia, and a true omnivore.”  

Andrew hosted the three-part 2019 Conversations at Copia in partnership with the Culinary Institute of America to publicize, educate and amplify the hard conversations around social justice and food. He is an entrepreneur-in-residence at The Lewis Institute for Social Innovation at Babson College. In 2022, he was a contributor to the White House Strategic Policy for Hunger, Nutrition and Health and a contributor to the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Through the James Beard Foundation and the Culinary Institute of America he funds Andrew Zimmern’s Second Chances Scholarships, which offer students faced with extreme challenges an opportunity to follow a culinary path. 

Andrew sits on the board of directors of Services for the UnderServed, EXPLR Media, Soigne Hospitality, Giving Kitchen and Beans is How. He is on the advisory board of Procure Impact and the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project, and serves on City Harvest’s Food Council. Andrew is a Global Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations World Food Programme and The Nature Conservancy, and is the International Rescue Committee’s Voice for Nutrition. He is a founding member of the Coalition for Sustainable Aquaculture and the Independent Restaurant Coalition, fighting to save restaurants affected by Covid-19. Other charities Andrew works with include Lovin’ Spoonfuls, ONE, Food Policy Action Committee, and No Kid Hungry. In his rare downtime, Andrew relaxes in Minneapolis, spending time with family and his dogs Luca and Clemmie.