Created by Chef de Cuisine, Denise Vivaldo in 1988, Food Fanatics is dedicated to all areas related to media food styling, including food styling for print and television, menu concepts, and original recipe and product development.

Denise Vivaldo is a professional Chef de Cuisine with nearly 20 years experience in all areas of the food industry. Chef Vivaldo started her culinary training at The Ritz Escoffier and La Varenne in Paris, and then returned to her native San Francisco to graduate from the California Culinary Academy in 1984. Recognized as a respected food professional, her expertise ranges from food styling for print and television to innovative menu conception and recipe development.

Following graduation from the California Culinary Academy, Denise served as the kitchen manager for Charter Concepts International, a worldwide yacht chartering company where she implemented successful cost-cutting product purchases, resulting in reduced food costs of more than twenty percent in her first year. Transferring to the sister-company, she accepted the position as Executive Chef at California Celebrations within the first year. She orchestrated special events on exotic locations with both international menus and celebrity guests.

In 1988, Chef Vivaldo founded Food Fanatics, a full-service catering company, where she received commissions for such prestigious events as the Academy Awards Governor's Ball, Macy's/American Express's Passport, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Sunset Magazine's Tastes of Sunset, and Los Angeles Magazine's Taste of LA. In addition, Chef Vivaldo has catered and coordinated post-premiere and "wrap" parties for many Hollywood films.

In recent years, Chef Vivaldo has stepped away from catering to devote her time to print and media food styling and recipe development for innovative new culinary products as well as numerous cookbooks by well-known celebrities including Suzanne Somers and Richard Simmons. Her exceptional work and practically applied ideas as the food stylist on many nationally-televised shows has earned her a reputation as a consummate professional.

In addition to her busy schedule as a food stylist, Denise is the culinary producer on Fine Living's NapaStyle with Chef Michael Chiarello. She is also the chef and representative for Bon Appetit magazine's cooking demonstrations, "Bon Appetit on Location," held at the Macy's Del Amo and South Coast Plaza stores in Southern California. She adds "Bon Appetit on Location" to her list of demonstration classes that include events at Bloomingdale's, Neiman-Marcus, and features on Home and Garden Television. Chef Vivaldo has also spent numerous years as a professor at UCLA's Culinary Program and at her alma mater, the California Culinary Academy.

A former art director and graphic designer, Cindie came to Food Fanatics as an extern in 2001 and is now an integral part of the team, managing Food Fanatics marketing and communications, developing and testing recipes, styling food for film and print, and researching and writing the next books in the Do It For Less series; Do It For Less! Weddings.

Cindie and Denise recently finished How to Start a Home-Based Personal Chef Business, published by Globe Pequot and due out in 2007. Cindie has also researched and written on culinary history for a variety of published cookbooks. Cindie and Denise hosted the HollyFood Insiders IACP Culinary Experience — Los Angeles in 2005. This grand adventure has led to further research on the culinary history of Hollywood.

Cindie teaches food styling classes and workshops in Los Angeles through the Culinary Entrepreneurship Program, along with plating and presentation seminars through the St. Joseph Center in Venice, California.

In addition to the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, Cindie attended the University of California, Los Angeles, the American Film Institute in Hollywood, and Otis Art Institute, Parson's School of Design in Los Angeles. She managed the graphics department at Pacific-Sierra Research Corporation for nearly 20 years, developing advertising campaigns, designing annual reports, booklets and brochures, creating direct mail pieces, and designing software packaging and user manual design.