Fabio Viviani

Fabio Viviani has harbored a passion for food since his childhood growing up in Florence, Italy. Between training in Italian and Mediterranean cuisine at top hospitality schools and working with culinary luminaries such as Alessandro Panzani and Saverio Carmagnini, Viviani also owned, operated and successfully executed several concepts in Florence by the time he was 27, including two nightclubs and five restaurants. Although a well-respected businessman in Italy, he was ready for a change and in 2005 Viviani moved to California where he opened his first USA based restaurants and Hospitality Ventures, Café Firenze, Firenze Osteria, Bar Firenze, and Mercato by Fabio Viviani, all of them in the Los Angeles Metro Area.

In 2013 Fabio Viviani Hospitality Group decided to expand the hospitality business to the Midwest and team up with Chicago Operator, DineAmic Group, where he opened Siena Tavern, Bar Siena, Prime & Provisions, Builders Building Event Venue and 2 locations of BomboBar all in Chicago. Fabio also opened several more Mercato by Fabio Viviani concepts across the country.

In 2016, Fabio expanded his brand into Airport Business with the opening of Osteria by Fabio Viviani, which won USA Today’s Reader’s Choice Award for “Best Airport Sit Down Dining” in 2018. In 2017, Fabio opened Portico by Fabio Viviani in New York’s del Lago Resort & Casino and Teamed up with PNG Group to expand his footprint into the Casino Business. Fabio opened “The Eatery by Fabio Viviani” a massively successful Modern Food and Beer Hall including several concepts featuring very diverse cuisine such as Mercato, The Classic, Zen Noodle, Joe & Dough and an always locally sourced Beer Hall concept, currently in 4 locations with more to come.

Expanding his reach into the hotel management business in 2018, Fabio teamed up with Yellow Door Hospitality to take a crack at opening two hotels in 2020 and 2021 in Detroit, and several locations of one of their Italian Brand’s “Bar Verona,” as well as teaming up with Cicero Hospitality for hotel business in Chicago and Florida catering to business centers, events spaces and Hotel food and beverage with one of Fabio’s flagship brands called “Osteria by Fabio Viviani”.

Fabio also expanded his hospitality empire in other areas of the country last year by opening Osteria, Mole Y Abuela and Shibui restaurants in Tampa, Osteria and Bar Cicchetti in Oklahoma City, and Chuck Lager and Dixie’s in Delaware. Over the next 3 years Fabio Viviani Hospitality will open 4 more concepts in Tampa, 4 new venues in Oklahoma/Tulsa as well as planning the franchise and expansion of both Chuck and Dixie’s brands to a nationwide reach, with dozens of locations already in the developing phase.

Fabio Viviani Hospitality has opened 34 restaurants to date, and in the next 18 months Fabio Viviani Hospitality Group is scheduled to open 14 more venues, including 5 Hotels in partnerships with different operators.

Best known for his participation in Bravo’s Top Chef seasons 5 and 8 – earning the “Fan Favorite” title – his on-screen appearances and off-screen successes have propelled him to become one of the most influential culinary and hospitality names in the country.

Fabio is a recurring guest on national television shows such as Good Morning America, The Rachael Ray Show, and countless Food Network Shows, such as Cutthroat Kitchen: All-Star Tournament, which he won. Since 2016, Viviani released a successful YouTube cooking series, “Fabio’s Kitchen,” now in its third season.

Off-screen, Viviani is a regular headliner at global food events, and aside from his restaurant businesses, in addition to owning lines of cookware and culinary gadgets, he is also a spokesman for international brands such as Bialetti Cookware, Lavazza Coffee and several others. He has authored four successful cookbooks: Café Firenze Cookbook, New York Times Best-Seller Fabio’s Italian Kitchen, Fabio’s American Home Kitchen, and most recently Fabio’s 30-Minute Italian released in May 2017.