Mario Batali isn't just a chef. The restaurateur is also a business owner, philanthropist and media personality. His culinary empire includes 26 restaurants, five grocery stores and 4,200 employees. And it has made him a multimillionaire, according to Forbes. But despite his financial success, the most important money lesson he's learned throughout his career is simple: Don't make it the main focus of your life.

"Money comes and comes and comes and comes and then it goes and goes and goes and goes," he told CNBC at Eat (RED) Food & Film Fest, an event Batali hosted as part of Eat (RED) Save Lives, an annual month-long campaign that raises money for the Global Fund, with 100 percent of proceeds going to fight AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa.