Cannery Row’s Ted Balestreri to receive honorary doctorate from CSUMB

Hunger has been a big part of Ted Balestreri’s life. He has said he started out as a hungry kid, and from there went on to build a successful business by satisfying the appetites of others. 

The restaurateur/hotelier, who turned Cannery Row from a rundown part of Monterey – which he likened to 1960s Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco when he began his first venture there nearly 60 years ago – into a top tourist destination, established himself early in the food business. And his flagship restaurant, the Sardine Factory, where Cannery Row’s rebirth began, is still a point of pride. 

One of the reasons he first got into the hospitality business, he recalls, was very practical. 

“I liked working in restaurants because they fed you,” he said. “Then, when I was 18, I became a manager, and I said, ‘This is it.’” 

His hunger for success resulted in not only a long line of successful business ventures but a host of leadership roles with various industry boards and associations. A wall in his office is filled with awards. 

And, later this month, Balestreri, 85, the chairman and CEO of the Cannery Row Company, will add one more accolade to his list. He will receive an honorary doctorate from Cal State Monterey Bay, in part for his help in establishing the university’s Sustainable Hospitality and Tourism Management program, creating an endowed scholarship and for his commitment to community service and education. 

“He was the one who planted the seeds,” said Paige Viren, the program’s current executive director. “In 2011, he was saying, ‘We need a hospitality program.’”

If anyone should know, it would be Balestreri, who, in the past five decades, has overseen the growth of Cannery Row as it became a thriving business district with specialty shops and boutiques as well as businesses with recognizable names, such as Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., Dippin’ Dots and Ghirardelli Ice Cream & Chocolate Shop.  

The Sardine Factory was the fulcrum upon which it all turned, and it was Balestreri’s first taste of success as a business owner.

After high school, Balestreri attended Lewis Hotel Management School in Washington, D.C. Not long after, he returned to the Monterey area, becoming manager of a foundering restaurant, the Jolly Roger, and making it the top money-maker in the city. It inspired him.

“At 26, I said, ‘I can do this myself,’” he said. 

The following year, in 1969, he and his partner, Bert Cutino, acquired what was then a dilapidated former dance studio. It wasn’t big, and it wasn’t pretty, but they had a vision. And, having already built a bit of a reputation in the local industry, they took a gamble. 

“We opened up the Sardine Factory with only $960 to our names,” Balestreri said, adding that the tables and chairs were all used furniture.

But, he said, what the eatery lacked in style it made up for with quality food at affordable prices and an emphasis on hospitality. 

“It just boomed and never stopped,” he said.

And, after 57 years, Balestreri said, it is still thriving. 

“In 2025, we had one of the biggest years we’ve ever had,” he said. “More people coming through the door every year, that's the key.”

And people remain his focus. While he considers a gold plate on his wall from the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association to be the greatest accolade he has received, it's the next customer that comes in the door that matters most, he said. 

“The highest honor I ever received,” he said, “was all the people coming back to the Sardine Factory.”

But he’s also proud to receive CSUMB’s honorary doctorate. 

“It’s a humbling thing,” he said, especially coming from an institution that has helped the local hospitality industry.

“It's enormously important,” Balestreri said of the university and, in particular, its Sustainable Hospitality and Tourism Management program. “Tourism is the second largest employer in the county. We need more talent. I think the most important thing is education.”

Looking back at his career, he still seems a bit amazed, particularly when he thinks of how far he’s come – from a hungry high schooler to one of Monterey’s most successful business people.

“I was probably the poorest kid in Carmel High School, and here I am with all these awards,” he said, pausing for a moment. “Only in America.”