While most of us know beloved TV host and restauranteur Guy Fieri as the “Mayor of Flavortown," recently he's given himself a new title — the "king of condiments."
“I love condiments,” Fieri tells Shop TODAY on a recent Zoom call. “We have two refrigerators here at my house and my wife and my son, Ryder, they get to keep all the family goods over there [in one fridge]. And over on my side is every condiment under the sun.”
So it should come as no surprise that his most recent endeavor is all about sauces. He teamed up with the condiment company Litehouse on a line of nine Flavortown Sauces, which range from classics like Honey Mustard Sauce and Smokin' Hickory BBQ to his famous Donkey Sauce.
Beyond sauces, he has plenty of other projects keeping him busy. With restaurants like Guy’s Dive, Guy's Burger Joint, Chicken Guy! and more open across the world and his hosting duties on culinary shows, including the long-running “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” and the culinary competition show “Tournament of Champions” on Food Network, he shows no signs of slowing down.
Of course, he still proudly holds the mayoral keys to Flavortown, too — though he says that the title was not initially his doing.
"I wasn't the self-proclaimed mayor. [People] called me the mayor of Flavortown ... they do an article and call Hunter [Guy's son] the prince of Flavortown. I said, the prince of Flavortown is above the mayor. How did my son get above me?"
And while Flavortown has become as much a part of his iconic image as his bleached hair and bowling shirts, he didn't realize that it would take off in the epic way that it did when he first mentioned the phrase on his show.
"I was standing at this restaurant and they had made this pizza that was so big. I picked it up and I made it like it was a steering wheel and said 'Look at this, I'm driving the bus to Flavortown!'" he shares. "That was all I said, there was nothing else. A couple of months later, we were making this big plate of pasta. And I said 'That looks like a manhole cover in the streets of Flavortown.'"
He made a couple more jokes about it on the show, mostly for the amusement of his crew. "I spend so many days with my film crew that if I can get them to chuckle behind the camera, I know I've done good."
But it caught on and people started repeating the phrase back to him. "So we're going through the airport one day — this is 13, 14 years ago — and some young guys walk by and they go 'Flavortown!'" And others were doing the same. "[I was like] OK, now you're going to start talking Flavortown? Now, we're going to start playing around with this."
So what is Flavortown? While we imagine it's somewhere between a state of mind and made-up place, he says that "its becoming more and more of a reality." In fact, in a 2022 Super Bowl ad, he got the chance to bring it to life.
"We did a great commercial for the Super Bowl two years ago, with Bud Light hard seltzers. And then we did this whole mythical thing. I met with their team and we talked about Flavortown, if you envisioned it, what would it be? And I said, it would be a cross between Willy Wonka and some futuristic place where everything was about food."
And the new sauces, he says fit right into the Flavortown universe. For our Shopping Diaries series, we chatted with him about his famous Donkey Sauce along with some of his other must-haves, from the insoles he's been wearing for 13 years to the hair gel that helps him maintain his iconic style.
Shopping Diaries: Guy Fieri
Flavortown Famous Donkey Sauce
Of course, Fieri couldn't make a line of condiments without including his famous Donkey Sauce. What's that you ask? The brand Litehouse, who Fieri teamed up with to make the line, had the same question.
"It started out when we started making burgers on Carnival Cruise Lines," he explains. "It's a super fortified aioli with mustard, black pepper and Worcestershire, lemon and garlic. And they said, 'Well, why do you call it donkey sauce?' I said, because if you don't put it on every burger we make you're a jack---."
Beyond burgers, the brand says it's great to add to fries, roast beef and more.
J Beverly Hills Blue Clear Finishing Wax
Fieri's hair is almost as iconic as his vibrant personality and tasty dishes, but his routine for keeping up his famous 'do is pretty simple. "I'm going to show you how fast it is — it's this," he says as he quickly runs his fingers through his hair in front of the camera.
However, there is one product in particular that helps him maintain his famous look. How he discovered it though is a pretty "funny story," he says.
"This was a long time ago, like 17 or 18 years ago," Fieri says. "I was in the airport, and a lady came up to me and touched my hair. And she was like, 'What do you use in your hair?' and I was like, 'I don't know, I use gel?'" Well, apparently, the product he had been using wasn't good enough because she suggested that he use this wax instead.
Shortly after, in his car in the parking lot, Fieri turns to see her knocking on his car window. "She's like, 'Hey, I just happened to see you. I have some of this hair wax." And she gives it to me. I'm like, OK, whatever. So I throw it in my backpack. Fast forward a month later, I'm shooting the show, it's a hot day, I'm sweating, I'm losing my spike. And I don't know what to do. And I go, oh, gosh, I have that stuff that lady gave me. And I take it, I put my hair and I'm like well, this is the best stuff ever." And it's been his go-to ever since.
Superfeet All-Purpose Insoles
Anyone who has spent time in a professional kitchen knows that comfortable footwear is a must, and these insoles are one of Fieri's tricks of the trade.
"I think that insoles do not get the recognition that they deserve," Fieri says. "I need something with really good arch support and a really good heel cup. And I know it's a funny name to call something Superfeet. But almost 95% of my shoes have Superfeet insoles. They make them for dress shoes, they make them for boots, they make for athletics — the whole thing. I am, I'd say 13 years a diehard fan of them."
OOFOS OOriginal Sandal
Speaking of comfortable footwear, Fieri is a fan of Oofos' sandals. "I look forward to when summer comes because I get to wear them because they’ve got great support and they’re super comfy." Plus, he says that they're "a cool company too." "The way I became a fan of them, I bought a pair when I was in Hawaii and slipped going down the stairs and tore the [straps] out. And my assistant wrote OOFOS and told them and said 'Hey, just so you know, these tore out, how do we fix them?' And they sent us two pairs. They didn't know it was me. I was just a random customer. And I wrote them back and said 'That's customer service!'"
