

He then got a job, working as a chef working for restaurateur Jonathan Waxman at Bud and Jams. However, he quit after he realized that he was not ready to run a kitchen.

After his graduation, Flay started working as a sous-chef, quickly learning the culinary arts, He was soon handed the executive chef’s position at the Brighton Grill on Third Avenue after the executive chef was fired. He then received a degree in culinary arts and was a member of the first graduating class of the French Culinary Institute in 1984.
