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Silicon Valley Restaurateur

After six years as the chef at Google, Charlie Ayers -- or, Chef Charlie, as staff called him -- is now planning a project larger than the corporate cafeteria. Next summer, he plans to open his own cafe in Palo Alto.

Cooking at Google was no cushy assigment. The 56th employee, Ayers ran the caf for six years -- at the end managing a kitchen crew of 135 -- serving free breakfast, lunch, and dinner to as many as 4,000 employees a day. And he must be a good cook: "Outsiders angled their Google friends for invitations to eat at the company's campus," and he "expects to raise $4 million from some former Google employees and private equity investment groups."

Mmmm, mmmm, good work, Charlie!