# Charlie Ayers
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{{Short description|American chef}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Charlie Ayers
| birth_name = Charles David Ayers, Jr.[{{cite journal|date=Spring 2014|title=JWU's Honorary Class of 2014|url=http://203.130.243.185/data/eBook%20MULTIMEDIA/JWUMagazineSpring2014.pdf|url-status=dead|journal=Johnson & Wales University Magazine|publisher=[Johnson & Wales University](/source/Johnson_%26_Wales_University)|page=3|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170220010800/http://203.130.243.185/data/eBook%20MULTIMEDIA/JWUMagazineSpring2014.pdf|archive-date=2017-02-20|quote=Charles David Ayers Jr. ’90 / Chef and Owner - Calafia Café/Blue Chalk Café Corporation / Doctor of Culinary Arts|accessdate=2017-02-18}}] is an American chef, cookbook author, and restaurateur. He is the former executive chef for [Google](/source/Google), from 1999 until 2006.[{{Cite web|last=Lusher|first=Adam|date=2008-03-23|title=Chef lifts lid on Google's recipe for success|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1582494/Chef-lifts-lid-on-Googles-recipe-for-success.html|url-status=live|access-date=|website=www.telegraph.co.uk|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605025339/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1582494/Chef-lifts-lid-on-Googles-recipe-for-success.html |archive-date=2011-06-05 }}][{{cite web|last=Gold|first=Amanda|date=May 7, 2008|title=Google chef serves up food for thought|url=https://www.sfgate.com/recipes/article/Google-chef-serves-up-food-for-thought-3216293.php|url-status=live|website=SFGate|publisher=San Francisco Chronicle|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120805163604/http://www.sfgate.com/recipes/article/Google-chef-serves-up-food-for-thought-3216293.php |archive-date=2012-08-05 }}][{{cite web|last=Craig|first=Elise|date=June 18, 2009|title=The man who fed Google|url=http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-man-who-fed-google|url-status=live|website=Market Watch|publisher=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090623080113/http://www.marketwatch.com:80/story/the-man-who-fed-google? |archive-date=2009-06-23 }}][{{cite web|last=McCarthy|first=Caroline|date=May 12, 2008|title=Bringing Google into the kitchen|url=https://www.cnet.com/news/bringing-google-into-the-kitchen/|url-status=live|website=CNet|publisher=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731013301/https://www.cnet.com/news/bringing-google-into-the-kitchen/ |archive-date=2017-07-31 }}][{{cite web|last= Alexander |first= Karen |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/20/business/businessspecial/20alexander.html|title=From Google to Noodles: A Chef Strikes Out on His Own|date= 2005-09-20 |accessdate= 2017-02-18 |work= [The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)}}] His work there was widely publicized in the media, and [David Vise](/source/David_Vise)'s corporate history ''[The Google Story](/source/The_Google_Story)'' contains an entire chapter about him called "Charlie's Place." By the time he left Google in 2006, Ayers and his team of five chefs and 150 employees were serving 4,000 daily lunches and dinners in 10 cafes across the company's headquarters campus in [Mountain View, California](/source/Mountain_View%2C_California).[ He grew up in [Brooklyn](/source/Brooklyn)][ and [Parsippany, New Jersey](/source/Parsippany-Troy_Hills%2C_New_Jersey),][{{cite journal|last= Epstein |first= Nadine |title= The Google Seder |journal= [Moment](/source/Moment_(magazine)) |year= 2008 |accessdate= 2017-02-18 |url= http://www.momentmag.com/the-google-seder/}}] where he attended [Parsippany High School](/source/Parsippany_High_School) and graduated in 1985.[{{cite web|title= Parsippany High School: Class of 1985 |date= 2009-04-16 |accessdate= 2017-02-18 |website= Class Creator |location= [Ann Arbor, Michigan](/source/Ann_Arbor%2C_Michigan) |url= https://www.classcreator.com/Parsippany-NJ-1985/class_profile.cfm?member_id=674665 |quote= Charles (Charlie) Ayers}}]
==Career==
Ayers worked as a private and personal chef to the rock band [Grateful Dead](/source/Grateful_Dead) in the 1980s.[{{Cite web|last1=Hollbrook|first1=Stett|last2=Pulcrano|first2=Dan|date=2009-10-14|title=Five Chefs That Matter|url=http://www.metroactive.com/metro/10.14.09/five-chefs-0941.html|url-status=live|access-date=2021-04-23|website=Metro Active|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091017080032/http://www.metroactive.com:80/metro/10.14.09/five-chefs-0941.html |archive-date=2009-10-17 }}] Ayers began his professional career in [New Jersey](/source/New_Jersey) working for [Hilton Hotels](/source/Hilton_Hotels), at their Meadowlands and Parsippany locations in [New Jersey](/source/New_Jersey).
Later he left Hilton to attend [culinary school](/source/culinary_school) at [Johnson & Wales University](/source/Johnson_%26_Wales_University) in [Providence, Rhode Island](/source/Providence%2C_Rhode_Island), where he graduated in 1990.[{{cite web|last=Kadvany|first=Elena|date=August 26, 2018|title=Calafia closes in Palo Alto: 'The costs were greater than the take'|url=https://www.paloaltoonline.com/blogs/p/2018/08/26/calafia-closes-in-palo-alto-the-costs-were-greater-than-the-take|url-status=live|website=Palo Alto Online|publisher=Palo Alto Weekly|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190208082054/https://www.paloaltoonline.com/blogs/p/2018/08/26/calafia-closes-in-palo-alto-the-costs-were-greater-than-the-take |archive-date=2019-02-08 }}] The financing to open Calafia Café came from former Google employees and a couple that worked for [Cisco](/source/Cisco).