Who gets paid on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives?

Who gets paid on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives? - Contemporary white car decorated with blue World Health Organization flag and sticker parked on street

The show Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives features Guy Fieri going to various restaurants and eating there. Does any party get paid for this? Do the restaurants pay the show to get featured? Does the show pay the restaurants? Or does neither get paid and they just get free publicity?



Best Answer

According to an article in The Twin Cities Business, the restaurants do NOT get paid nor do THEY PAY to have their restaurants featured on the show.

The restaurants do receive free publicity and seem to have a vast increase in sales after the airing of the episode that features their restaurants.

“They told us ‘We can do a lot for your sales., ” says says Ann Kim, co-owner of Pizzeria Lola in Minneapolis, “‘We had no idea.”

“They told us to get ready,” says Josh Thoma, founder of Smack Shack in Minneapolis. “I was like, “ ‘I got it.’ I did not get it.”

A month later, his sales and customer counts were up 500 percent.

The restaurants also do not get any type of budget or reimbursement for food that they prepare for the show for Guy Fieri to sample.

Some use food with high ingredient costs and rapid spoilage. “I was reluctant,” says Eric Goerdt, owner of Northern Waters Smokehaus in Duluth. “I think it cost us nearly $15,000 in wasted product and costs associated with cleaning” his specialized fish processing area after the shoot.

“I estimated about $12,000 in overall expense,” says Thoma. Then you wait. It can be as long as a year until a DDD segment airs after taping, but it’s always at least several months wondering if all the effort will pay off.

Guy Fieri has a net worth of $8.5 million due to the popularity of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives along with his personal appearances, book sales, restaurant endeavours as well as several other Food Network shows that he is involved in.




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How much does Guy make on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives?

Guy earned just $1,000 per episode. In 2018 Guy signed a 3-year, $30 million contract with The Food network. That contract worked out to an annual salary of $10 million. In May 2021 Guy Fieri signed a 3-year $80 million contract renewal with The Food Network.

How much does Guy Fieri make an episode?

Guy Fieri earns $500,000 per episode from his employer, 'The Food Net Work'. This makes Guy Fieri one of the highest paid television personalities in the world. Guy Fieri's annual income also includes income from his business ventures and brand endorsement deals.

How long does it take to film an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives?

Filming each episode of the show takes a couple of days. Paul, Minnesota, told Twin Cities Business that filming took two days at his restaurant. During that time, the show filmed both B-roll of the restaurant and the actual footage of Fieri cooking the dishes with the chef.



The Warning Restaurant Owners Get Pre Diners, Drive-Ins, And Dives




Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Images: Asad Photo Maldives, Ann H, Mikechie Esparagoza, Pixabay