Rick Bayless
Age: 60
Occupation: Restaurateur; founder, Frontera Foods
This all-American chef whose Mexican restaurants (Frontera Grill, Topolobampo, and Xoco) draw diners from all around the globe has increased his pull in the retail food sector over the past year. Shoppers can now find the brightly packaged salsas, chips, and sauces—sold under the moniker Frontera Foods, the genius biz he launched with Manny Valdes in 1996—in more than half the grocery stores in the United States. (Canadians apparently love this stuff, too.) With worldwide sales at approximately $30 million, it’s safe to say that home cooks from Vancouver to Sydney can now serve Frontera chips with Frontera salsas to go along with the company’s latest dinners: Frontera skillet sauces and Frontera rice.