Who Is Britt Rescigno Married To? – The Full Story of the Food Network Chef Who Found Love and a Business Partner in the Same Woman

There are chefs who cook for a living, and then there are chefs who cook like it’s the only honest thing they know how to do. Britt Rescigno is firmly in the second category. The South Jersey native who grew up scaling fish next door to her grandparents’ clam bar before she was a teenager has become one of the most consistently impressive competitors in Food Network history — a multiple-time Tournament of Champions finalist, a woman who once walked into Bobby Flay’s kitchen and walked out with a win, and now the co-owner of a restaurant in Idaho that she runs alongside the woman she married in 2024.

That woman is Kinsey Leodler-Rescigno — fellow chef, business co-founder, and wife. Their story is one of the more genuinely interesting romantic partnerships in the culinary world precisely because it is not just a love story. It is a professional partnership, a shared creative vision, and a life built around food from the ground up.

Who Is Britt Rescigno Married To?

Early Life and Background 

Not every chef gets to say the restaurant that shaped them was literally next door to where they grew up. Britt Rescigno can.

Brittany Rescigno was born and raised in the New Gretna section of Bass River Township, New Jersey, and grew up working at her grandparents’ seafood restaurant, Allen’s Clam Bar, which was next door to the family home and where her father was the chef

New Gretna is a small, quiet community tucked into Burlington County in South Jersey — not exactly a culinary hotspot, but the kind of place where proximity to the water means you learn about fresh seafood before you learn about most other things. Growing up with a clam bar as your literal backyard is a formative experience that most chefs would have to invent. For Britt, it was just Tuesday.

She did prep at the restaurant before school and throughout her childhood until becoming a line cook at the age of thirteen, where she began to hone her skills as a chef.

Thirteen years old, working on the line. That kind of early exposure does not just teach technique — it teaches pressure, speed, and the understanding that cooking is not a hobby but a discipline. Her grandmother, she has said in interviews, was the one who laid the real foundation. Britt recalled on Beat Bobby Flay: “When I was a little kid, I got to work with my grandmother. She told me everything I know.”

Her father Jeffrey Rescigno also worked as the chef at Allen’s Clam Bar, meaning the kitchen was genuinely a family affair — multi-generational, rooted in community, and centred on the honest pleasures of well-prepared seafood.

Education

She graduated from Pinelands Regional High School. She graduated from The Culinary Institute of America in 2009 and externed at Wequassett Resort and Golf Club on Cape Cod.

The Culinary Institute of America, located in Hyde Park, New York, is one of the most prestigious culinary schools in the world. Getting in requires genuine aptitude, and graduating from it signals to the industry that a chef has received rigorous, classical training. For someone like Britt, who had already accumulated years of practical kitchen experience by the time she arrived, the CIA was less a starting point and more a formal codification of what she already understood intuitively.

Britt graduated in 2009 and said two lessons still stick with her to this day: “Mise en place is the key to success, and clean as you go!” The first principle — everything in its place before you begin — is the bedrock of professional cooking. The second is what separates pros from amateurs in a high-volume kitchen environment

Her externship at Wequassett Resort and Golf Club on Cape Cod, under the mentorship of Bill Brodsky, gave her a polished, hospitality-focused environment that rounded out the rougher, more instinctive edges of her family kitchen training.

Career Journey

The California Years

After graduating, Britt headed west. Her culinary career took her to California where she worked as the Sous Chef at Scratch, helped open and manage Nom Burger, developed culinary concepts at Tap’t Beer and Kitchen, and created the underground popup concept, Nox Farm to Table.

The California stretch was formative in a different way — less about refinement and more about range. Working across different restaurant formats, from fine dining sous chef to a burger concept to an underground farm-to-table popup, gave her a versatility that would later prove decisive in competition settings where you might be handed a basket of sea urchin and chicken feet and told to make something impressive in 30 minutes.

Return East and the Long Beach Island Chapter

She was executive chef at Delaware Avenue Oyster House in Long Beach Island, New Jersey. Coming back to the Jersey Shore — close to her roots, close to the seafood she knew best — proved to be the moment her career began to accelerate publicly. It was around this period that the Food Network appearances began stacking up.

The Food Network Story — Wins, Near-Misses, and a Legend-Making Upset

Britt Rescigno’s television career is the kind of resume that food competition fans talk about in reverent tones.

In 2019 she won episodes of Chopped, Guy’s Grocery Games, and Beat Bobby Flay, in which she bested Flay by cooking her grandmother’s chicken and dumplings.

Beating Bobby Flay is genuinely difficult. The man is one of the most competitive chefs on television, playing on his own turf, with home-court advantage baked into the show’s format. Britt did it by going back to basics — her grandmother’s chicken and dumplings. There is a lesson in that. Technique wins competitions, but soul wins the ones that matter.

In 2023 she played in to an 8th seed on Tournament of Champions and became a semifinalist in what was described as a Cinderella story or underdog story; she was the first 8th seed ever to reach the semifinals. She also competed on Tournament of Champions in 2024, in which she made it to the final four, and in 2025, in which she was a #1 seed.

Going from an 8th seed underdog to a number-one seed in two seasons is a remarkable arc. The Tournament of Champions format — blind judging, randomized ingredients, head-to-head — is one of the purest tests of culinary skill on television because it strips away everything except the food.

She’s competed on Chopped, Chopped Champions, Beat Bobby Flay, Alex vs. America, Guy’s Grocery Games, Tournament of Champions, and Tournament of Champions: All-Star Christmas. That is an unusually broad and consistent Food Network presence for any chef

Who Is Britt Rescigno Married To? – Kinsey Leodler-Rescigno

This is the question most people are searching for, and the answer is both clear and recent.

Rescigno married fellow chef Kinsey Leodler, whom she met while consulting to open a concept restaurant, in 2024.

Britt married fellow chef Kinsey Leodler-Rescigno in 2024 in Idaho, where they now live and work. Their wedding took place on September 28, 2024, in Hailey, Idaho — a stunning mountain setting that reflected the Pacific Northwest chapter of their lives together.

Who Is Kinsey Leodler-Rescigno?

Kinsey is not simply the chef’s wife. She is a full professional partner — co-founder, co-chef, and the operational backbone of the restaurant they built together.

Chef Kinsey is a seasoned culinary expert with a deep appreciation for different flavors and cuisines, cultivated through her extensive travels and experiences. Raised in Southern California, her culinary journey started as soon as she could hold a knife, but her professional career officially took off in 2012, while working under Chef Deborah Scott at an acclaimed restaurant.

In 2023, she co-launched Communion Bay Supper Club with her wife Chef Britt Rescigno. This innovative and customizable pop-up dinner and event business merges their expertise and passions to offer unique culinary events from coast to coast.

Their professional partnership predated the restaurant and even the formal business — the Communion Bay Supper Club was already underway before Fiamma opened, meaning by the time they said their vows in September 2024, they had already been testing their working relationship under real conditions. That is a meaningful form of due diligence.

Fiamma — Their Restaurant in Ketchum, Idaho

In 2025, she opened Fiamma with her wife and fellow chef Kinsey Leodler-Rescigno. The two co-own the restaurant, which focuses on live-fire, swanky Italian fare.

The name Fiamma — Italian for “flame” — is fitting for a place built around live-fire cooking. Britt’s Italian heritage runs deep. She has spoken about celebrating her Italian roots through food, and the choice to centre the restaurant’s identity around Italian fare and the primal simplicity of live fire reflects both her background and her philosophy: that great cooking begins with great ingredients and honest heat.

Rescigno applies her classical French training to Italian cuisine at Fiamma restaurant in Ketchum, Idaho. The establishment marks her first venture as a restaurant owner.

Ketchum, Idaho — near the famous Sun Valley ski resort — is a small mountain town that draws wealthy outdoor enthusiasts and food-savvy visitors. It is an unusual setting for a serious Italian restaurant, but that is partly the point. Bringing genuinely skilled, competition-level cooking to a market that might not expect it is its own form of ambition.

Their Life Together

The couple has two dogs: Hagrid, a German shepherd and Chihuahua mix, and Cannoli, a blue heeler and Siberian husky mix. The fact that one of their dogs is named Cannoli tells you most of what you need to know about the tone of this household.

According to Britt, “You can’t take the Jersey outta this girl!” — a reminder that however far she has traveled from South Jersey, the identity that was formed on the line at Allen’s Clam Bar at age thirteen remains central to how she understands herself as a cook and as a person.

A Note on Previous Reports

Some older websites mention Britt being married to a woman named Natalie Buelow. Those reports appear to reflect a prior relationship that ended before Britt’s marriage to Kinsey Leodler-Rescigno in 2024. The most current and verified record — including Wikipedia, the Food Network’s official profile, and the restaurant’s own website — confirms that Kinsey Leodler-Rescigno is Britt’s current wife, having married in September 2024.

Personal Life, Identity, and Advocacy

Britt Rescigno is an openly LGBTQ+ chef who has used her platform in the food media space to represent diversity in the culinary industry. In a world that has historically been dominated by straight men at the top level, her visibility as a queer woman consistently reaching the finals of elite cooking competitions carries real weight — not because she is trying to make a point, but because she keeps winning

She identifies strongly with her Italian-American heritage and her New Jersey roots. Her culinary philosophy — described by Food Network as believing “life’s short, eat sexy food” — is characteristically direct. It is the kind of motto that could only come from someone who grew up treating food as a fundamental expression of love, community, and identity.

Net Worth

Britt Rescigno’s net worth has not been publicly confirmed with precision. Earlier estimates placed it at approximately $100,000–$105,000, which likely reflected a snapshot from before her most high-profile competitive runs and the opening of Fiamma. Given her current status as a Food Network regular, now also working as a judge on Guy’s Grocery Games, co-owner of a restaurant, and operator of Communion Bay Supper Club — her income and overall financial standing have almost certainly grown significantly. A more accurate current estimate would be in the range of several hundred thousand dollars to low millions, drawn from competition prize money, television fees, restaurant revenue, consulting work, and event appearances, though no verified figure has been published.

Conclusion

Britt Rescigno’s story is one that moves in a satisfying direction — from a child peeling shrimp next to her grandmother in a New Jersey clam bar, to a nationally recognized chef who beat Bobby Flay with a family recipe, reached the Tournament of Champions semifinals as an 8th seed underdog, and eventually opened her own restaurant in Idaho with the woman she married. Kinsey Leodler-Rescigno is not an accessory to that story — she is an active co-author of it, a professional equal who brings her own training, her own vision, and her own range to what they are building together at Fiamma and beyond. Theirs is, genuinely, a partnership of two people who chose each other for the right reasons.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Who is Britt Rescigno married to? Britt Rescigno is married to fellow chef Kinsey Leodler, whom she met while consulting to open a concept restaurant. They married in 2024.

2. How old is Britt Rescigno? Britt Rescigno was born in 1984, making her 40–41 years old as of 2025.

3. Where is Britt Rescigno from? Britt Rescigno was born and raised in the New Gretna section of Bass River Township, New Jersey. She currently lives and works in Ketchum, Idaho.

4. What is Britt Rescigno famous for? She is best known for her multiple appearances on Food Network competitions, including winning Chopped in 2019, beating Bobby Flay on Beat Bobby Flay, and becoming the first 8th seed ever to reach the semifinals of Tournament of Champions.

5. Does Britt Rescigno have her own restaurant? Yes. In 2025, she opened Fiamma with her wife Kinsey Leodler-Rescigno in Ketchum, Idaho, a restaurant focused on live-fire Italian cuisine.

6. Where did Britt Rescigno go to school? She graduated from Pinelands Regional High School and then from The Culinary Institute of America in 2009