Biography

Chef Richard Hales grew up in Tampa, Florida and honed his culinary chops in New York City and throughout Asia, Southeast Asia and Europe. His culinary range began beyond his formal education and took shape while backpacking through Asia, Europe and South America learning, eating and discovering. Exotic Travel created culinary uniqueness as diverse as his background of Filipino, Irish & Italian heritage. Chef Richard has been a passionate pioneer of forward thinking concepts since 1991 in Miami, Florida. Hales is restaurant Chef Owner and concept creator for Hales Blackbrick Miami, Hales Blackbrick Tampa & Hales Society BBQ, Miami. In addition to his brick and mortar restaurant locations, Chef Hales is owner of Grateful Hospitality which operates his restaurant empire. Grateful Hospitality also ships Chef Hales' frozen food business nationwide through a national delivery network, including QVC network. In addition to the current operation Chef Hales has opened and operated successful restaurant concepts Sakaya Kitchen, Bird & Bone, The Backyard at The Confidante Hotel, Dim Ssam a gogo food trucks and Chef Richard Hales Events. Hales and his wife Jenny live in Tampa, Florida with their children Lily and Violet. Television appearances Hales has appeared on Food Network's Season 3 of Tournament of Champions, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, as well as co-hosted an episode of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives with Chef Guy Fieri, appeared on Guys Grocery Games and has the distinction as one of the top winning chefs on the show, Americas' best bite for best burger, 24 hour layover with Anthony Bourdain, Fast Casual Nation, The great food truck race show, The Daily Meal annual best in the country top 100 for all of his restaurants, Food Network's Beat Bobby Flay, Vivala Latin show, Eat street Canada, Cheddar TV in NYC, Extra Crispy NYC, NBC The Feast, NBC Six in the Mix, CBS 4 Miami, WSVN Channel 10, Channel 7 Bite with Belkeys. Hales appeared as himself in an independent film called "Miami Love Affair". Radio appearances on Sirius XM radio, Y100 and multiple podcast. Recipes published and features in Bon Appetit magazine, Food and Wine magazine, Esquire, Marie Claire, Maxim, Epoch Times, Luxury Travel Advisor, Crain's NY, Time Out New York, Tasting Table, Vice Munchies, Eater NY, NY Post, Miami Herald, Miami New Times, Andrew Zimmern St Paul Magazine, Delta Sky Magazine.
- IMDb mini biography by: Tony Jones