A New York native, Joe Bastianich was raised in an Italian family where food and cooking were a key part of his upbringing. (His mother is celebrity chef/TV host Lidia Bastianich.) He became a restaurateur at a young age, and his culinary empire now includes establishments in New York City, Las Vegas, Singapore, Hong Kong and elsewhere. The worlds of TV and food collided for Bastianich when he was offered a seat at the judging table on the FOX cooking competition MasterChef. Now part of the MasterChef family, Bastianich can also be seen on MasterChef Junior and the Italian series MasterChef Italia. Bastianich took a bit of a different direction with his show Restaurant Startup, produced by Shine America. The series sees him competing with chef and restaurant operator Tim Love to invest their own money in food concepts they believe could make them millions. With its debut, Restaurant Startup became CNBC’s most watched original series premiere in the network’s history. The show is now set for a second season. Shine International launched the Restaurant Startup format at MIPCOM, and Bastianich shares with TV Formats Weekly why he believes it will be successful in the global market.