By Tess Alongi
Wayland Post Intern
A “three, two, one, go” from Guy Fieri and Wayland resident Mary Ting Hyatt began sprinting through a 15,500-square-foot warehouse in Santa Rosa, Calif., in a fake grocery store. Just like any “normal” grocery store, the warehouse was stocked with more than 20,000 items.
It was a surreal moment, not something Hyatt ever anticipated doing, but when the producers of “Guy’s Grocery Games” called, she said yes.
Hyatt opened her own Bagel Store, Bagelsaurus, in 2013. What started as a pop-up shop blossomed into a brick-and-mortar shop in Cambridge. “I noticed there weren’t many local bagel shops in the area when I moved to the Boston area in ‘07,” Hyatt said. “I kind of had it in the back of my head that that would be a nice thing to bring to the area once I was ready.”
A few years after opening, word of Hyatt’s bagels spread far beyond Cambridge. Bagelsaurus drew national attention. That’s when Hyatt first met Guy Fieri, the host of “Guy’s Grocery Games.” Guy and his crew came to Bagelsaurus in 2019 and filmed an episode of ‘Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,’” Hyatt said. So when the crew came calling again, a couple of years later, Hyatt didn’t hesitate to say yes. “I knew it would be a really fun experience, no matter what the competition part was like,” Hyatt said. “I just decided to go for it.”
“Guy’s Grocery Games,” now in its 39th season on Food Network, is a cooking competition where chefs race through the aisles of a “fake” grocery store, facing unique challenges and time constraints.
Hyatt made her mark in Season 39, Episode 15, “DDD: Sandwiches.” The episode featured three chefs, all previously featured on “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.” “I was pretty intimidated when I met my competition at first,” Hyatt said. “I think of myself more as a baker than a cook, honestly, and I was hearing these guys talk about their sandwich shops. I was just thinking that they had a lot more experience than I did.”
Despite feeling intimidated, Hyatt quickly found her rhythm.
“It sort of felt like a sports game,” Hyatt said. “You’re nervous before, but then once it starts, you get so in it that that sort of falls away.”
During the competition, Hyatt cooked three meals, including her favorite, an oil-poached spicy tuna melt on a croissant. And after racing through the aisles, facing the clock and the pressure of the competition, she stood in front of Fieri as he announced her as the episode’s winner. “It was truly a dream,” Hyatt said.
Though her journey has taken her far from her hometown, she hopes one day to bring back a bit of her success to Wayland. “I would love to do a pop-up in Wayland,” Hyatt said. But for now, she’s focused on growing Bagelsaurus, constantly refining her skills and experimenting with new flavors.
