Johnny Iuzzini

Beginnings

Iuzzini's first restaurant job was after school as a part-time dishwasher at the local golf club, Osiris Country Club, riding his bicycle to work in order to earn teenage spending money.^[8] At the time, he was enrolled in his high school's voc-tech culinary program, and Iuzzini garnered his first cooking award by finishing second in a New York City culinary competition.^[6] Referred to the chef at the River Café in Brooklyn by the florist of the golf club's restaurant, at age seventeen Iuzzini took a new job as garde manger, beginning his career in New York City. Iuzzini began assisting Pastry Chef Eric Gouteyron at the restaurant. He then switched jobs to work making desserts full-time, launching his career as a pastry chef.^[6][7][9]

Iuzzini attended The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, graduating in 1994 with a Baking and Pastry Arts degree.^[6]

Pastry chef

During his externship at the Culinary Institute of America, Iuzzini worked with pastry chef Lincoln Carson at Luxe, now Corporate Pastry Chef for Michael Mina's Mina Group restaurant management company. Carson, who had formerly worked for Francois Payard at Le Bernadin in Midtown Manhattan, coaxed Iuzzini to visit Payard, now working at the original Daniel on Manhattan's Upper East Side. After spending a day with Payard, Iuzzini was offered a job as pastry chef at Daniel, which he accepted, working weekends until graduation. During the next three and a half years, he mastered all dessert stations and became Payard's close assistant. When Payard opened his renowned Payard Pâtisserie and Bistro in 1997, Iuzzini was selected as sous chef, while continuing to work at Daniel.^[10][11]

In 1998, burned out from the hectic pace, Iuzzini took a break from the kitchen to visit Hong Kong, Australia and Italy. In France he studied pastry technique while staging at several of the country's finest patisseries including Ladurée in Paris, École du Grand Chocolat et Patisserie in Tain l’Hermitage, and Patisserie Chereau in Nice, as well as the Hotel Paris in Monte Carlo.^[12] After eight months around the world, he returned to New York to work for chef/owner Daniel Boulud, opening Café Boulud and the new Daniel as Executive Sous Chef. In 2001 Boulud promoted the 26-year-old Iuzzini to Executive Pastry Chef.

In May 2002, chef/owner Jean-Georges Vongerichten selected Iuzzini for the position of Executive Pastry Chef at Restaurant Jean Georges, including the restaurant's café, Nougatine. It is during this period of his career that Iuzzini achieved his most distinguished recognition and awards, including “Best Pastry Chef” by New York Magazine in 2002, “Outstanding Pastry Chef of the Year” nomination by the James Beard Foundation in 2003,^[13] and “Ten Best Pastry Chefs in America” by Pastry Art and Design Magazine in 2003 and 2004. When Jean-Georges opened Perry Street in 2005, Iuzzini added Executive Pastry Chef role for that location to his responsibilities. The following year, 2006, Iuzzini was awarded Outstanding Pastry Chef of the Year^[14] by the James Beard Foundation. 2007 landed him among the honorees of the title of “10 Most Influential Chefs in America” from forbes.com, as one of the “Tastemaking Chefs”.^[9][15]

Pastry and culinary arts consulting

In 2011 Iuzzini left the kitchen^[16] and started his pastry and culinary arts consulting company, Sugar Fueled, Inc. He is a member of Macy's Culinary Council,^[17] performing demonstrations of pastry techniques to live audiences around the United States. On June 16, 2014, Le Méridien Hotels & Resorts announced their first-ever global éclair program in partnership with Iuzzini. Over a twelve-month period, Iuzzini created eight signature éclair recipes exclusively for Le Méridien inspired by his travels throughout to the hotel's destinations. The series is titled "The Éclair Diaries", and began on July 10, 2014, with his travels around the San Francisco area on motorcycle to find inspiration for his first éclair recipe which was unveiled on July 29, 2014 in New York City.^{[18][19][20][21]}

Television

In September 2010, Iuzzini was enlisted for two seasons as head judge on the American reality competition show Top Chef: Just Desserts on the Bravo cable television network.^[22][23] This show, a spin-off of the highly successful Top Chef, focused exclusively on desserts. The pastry chef contestants battled weekly for the top prize in the familiar Top Chef format featuring both “Quickfire Challenge” and “Elimination Challenge” tests. Each season featured nine episodes plus a finale. In 2011 the show received the GLAAD Media Award nomination for Outstanding Reality Program.^[24] On October 23, 2014, he appeared as a competitor in the "Superstar Sabotage" tournament of Cutthroat Kitchen.^[25]

Charity

Iuzzini donates his personal time supporting various charities, including Cookies for Kids' Cancer,^[26] a non-profit organization dedicated to raising funds for pediatric cancer research, Share Our Strength,^[27] the TJ Martell Foundation, Autism Speaks,^[28] Just Food,^[29] and the Jubilee Family Development Center.^[30] Iuzzini was an ambassador for The Family Reach Foundation, a charity that helps families with a child or parent afflicted with cancer.^[31] He also donates time to Waves for Water, a charity that promotes projects to provide clean water to those in need around the world.

Sexual harassment allegations

On November 29, 2017, Iuzzini was accused of sexual harassment by four of his former employees.^[32] As a result of the accusations against Iuzzini, the third season of The Great American Baking Show was pulled after two episodes.^[5]

On December 13, 2017, Iuzzini was fired from ABC and The Great American Baking Show following the sexual misconduct allegations.^[33]