Aaron McCargo Jr.

He opened his own restaurant, McCargo's Creative Cuisine, in 2003. The restaurant was located across from the U.S. Federal Courthouse on Cooper Street, near Rutgers University in Camden, and closed in 2005. He has worked as an executive chef, including at the catering division of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, where he oversaw approximately forty jobs per day. He left his job there on June 6, 2008 due to his demanding television schedule.

In 2008, McCargo entered the fourth season of Food Network's The Next Food Network Star at the urging of his wife. He beat out 3,990 other entrants as the winner of that year's competition, the finale of which aired on July 27, 2008. He was awarded a six-episode commitment for his own cooking show on Food Network. His show, Big Daddy's House, premiered on August 3, 2008 and ended June 18, 2011 with a total of 76 episodes. The show was ranked as the number one “in the kitchen” weekend show during its initial six-episode run. Food Network renewed the show for a total of six seasons. Since then, he has made many public appearances, and is particularly interested in teaching young people to cook and encouraging them to follow their dreams. McCargo's own dreams are to open his own restaurant on the Camden Waterfront and to introduce a line of soups.

McCargo was born and also grew up in Camden, New Jersey, and is one of six children. He became interested in cooking at age four, when he began baking cakes in his sister's Easy-Bake Oven. He began cooking in his family's kitchen at age seven. He was encouraged by his father, Aaron McCargo, Sr., who is a fine cook, and his mother, Julia, who has a preference for food with a great deal of flavor. He first studied cooking in a home economics class at Pyne Poynt Middle School in Camden, and began cooking as a Junior Volunteer in the kitchen of Cooper University Hospital in Camden at age 13. He took further cooking classes at Camden High School, graduating in 1989. He attended the Academy of Culinary Arts at Atlantic Cape Community College in Mays Landing, New Jersey, but did not complete the program, leaving after one year to assist his mother with the rearing of his brothers.

Aaron McCargo Jr. (born July 22, 1971) is an American chef, television personality, and television show host who is best known as the winner of the fourth season of the Food Network's reality television show, The Next Food Network Star.