Follow the Money All the Way to the Kitchen

I'M in Utah, freezing," the chef Michelle Bernstein said over her cellphone.

She was in Park City to prepare a dinner at a celebrity chef event during the Sundance Film Festival, a long way from the warmer climes she is used to, in Miami, where she is the chef at Michy's. Not that she spends all that much time there; her last stint in her restaurant had been a day long. Before that she had been in Tampa, Fla., filming commercials for the shopping network HSN.

Ms. Bernstein is far from a household name, but the renown she received as chef at her previous Miami restaurant, Azul, paved her way into the network of consultancies, endorsement deals and book and television contracts that has been the symbol of success for a few dozen chefs who have been best able to market their names and images.

The deals can be potent sources of income for a handful of the best-known chefs, and a great way to develop name recognition for all. They're also a sign of how far the industry has come from the days when a chef earned his income by cooking, and doing that in one kitchen.