Valuetainment - April 24, 2019


Episode 288: Wolfgang Puck - From Chef to $100 Million Entrepreneur


Episode Stats


Length

39 minutes

Words per minute

205.31071

Word count

8,067

Sentence count

721

Harmful content

Misogyny

2

sentences flagged

Hate speech

6

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Wolfgang Puck went from being a chef to an entrepreneur, to building a $100 million dollar empire, to running one of the most popular restaurants in all of the world, Spago, out of Beverly Hills, and the things we covered today.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.860 30 seconds, one time for the underdog, ignition sequence start, let me see you put em up, reach
00:00:09.220 the sky, turn the stars up above, cause it's one time for the underdog, one time for the
00:00:16.220 underdog.
00:00:17.280 I'm Patrick Bedevi, host of Aletame, and today I sit down with Wolfgang Puck, yes, the one
00:00:21.300 and only Wolfgang Puck that went from being a chef to an entrepreneur, to building a hundred
00:00:26.140 million dollar empire, to running one of the most popular restaurants in all of the world,
00:00:31.180 Spago, out of Beverly Hills, and the things we covered today, it's interesting when he
00:00:35.360 was coming up, how he almost took his life and all of a sudden took a complete different
00:00:39.480 angle and went from no one knowing who Wolfgang Puck is, to all of a sudden everybody around
00:00:44.140 the world knowing that name, Wolfgang Puck.
00:00:46.240 It's very rare when you find somebody in the restaurant world as a chef, you know, there's
00:00:50.360 a lot of chefs out there who are very creative, but it's tough for them to make that transition
00:00:55.120 from being a chef, who do very well in the kitchen, to go and open up a restaurant that
00:01:00.060 lasts for 36 years, for as long as his has, and then become an entrepreneur, and become
00:01:05.980 one of the top five wealthiest chefs around the world, one and only Wolfgang Puck.
00:01:09.840 Sir, thank you for your time.
00:01:11.040 Thank you for having me, indeed a pleasure.
00:01:14.560 Wealthiest, I don't know.
00:01:16.240 I saw you on a list, it said top five, I said, you know what, cause I saw one time you
00:01:19.900 said, when you were a chef back in France, and you said you would watch these people on
00:01:25.020 America, use the word Chevrolet in Cadillac, and he said, I want to be rich one day, and
00:01:29.640 you know, you come to America, and you have your story, so.
00:01:31.600 And now I drive a Cadillac, see, and Escalade, yeah.
00:01:34.800 You drive a Escalade, okay, that's cool.
00:01:36.580 So, what I want to do is, before we go into what you've done, obviously Spago, if you're
00:01:40.920 in LA, I think in LA there's three two-star Michelin two-stars, right, yours is one of them
00:01:45.960 Spago, 2012, well, when you were awarded, before they, you did your renovation, and if you're
00:01:50.860 in LA, everybody wants to go to Spago, this is like a main spot, so.
00:01:53.660 It's an institution, Spago has become a worldwide institution, people know it, if you go to
00:01:59.360 England, or Australia, or you know about Spago.
00:02:02.720 So, before we get into Spago, Cut, Wolfgang Puck, The Express, some of the things they've
00:02:06.420 been doing at HSN, let's go back and kind of hear the story of how you got started, you
00:02:11.020 know, like, if I wasn't, say I was in high school with you, we're 16 years old, you and
00:02:15.100 I are good friends, we're classmates, who was Wolfgang Puck?
00:02:17.480 Well, Wolfgang Puck never went to high school, never went to high school, never went to
00:02:21.940 high school, I started out, my mother was a professional chef too, in the summertime, so
00:02:27.540 when I was 12, 13 years old, I always spent the summer, the vacation with my mother at this
00:02:33.600 resort hotel, I remember she had a small room, the hotel provided the lodging, and then she
00:02:39.500 had them built the bunk bed, so I slept up on top, and she had the bed underneath, and my stepfather
00:02:45.300 was working in the mines and everything, so I spent there, I spent time cooking, and helping
00:02:51.680 the pastry chef, helping my mom a little bit, and then when I was 14, I left school.
00:02:56.060 Fully?
00:02:56.980 14, yeah.
00:02:57.980 Left school?
00:02:58.980 Fully, totally.
00:02:59.980 Your mom was okay with that?
00:03:00.980 Oh, she had no choice, because I just said, this is what it's going to be.
00:03:05.680 I started to cook professionally too, an apprenticeship in Fila in Austria, I worked there for three
00:03:12.980 years, then I moved to France, stayed seven years in France, and then I moved to the United
00:03:18.700 States, first to Indianapolis a year, and then I came here to Los Angeles, and I'm here since
00:03:25.240 1975.
00:03:26.240 What was your personality like at 14, like, if we're friends, what was Wolfgang Puck like
00:03:31.620 at 14?
00:03:32.620 I was certainly rebellious, I hated my stepfather, so I said, I can't wait, so when I was 14,
00:03:39.860 not only I skipped school, I skipped my parents' home, I left their home and moved 50 miles
00:03:44.600 away.
00:03:45.600 At 14?
00:03:46.600 At 14, and I said, I have young kids too, so I'm sinking off there, I said, my son
00:03:49.900 going to be 14 next year, I said, I don't think I would let him move out, but I just moved
00:03:55.280 out, and my mother basically said, you know what, in life, you have to make more money
00:03:59.560 than you spend, and you will be all right.
00:04:01.420 And that's your mom, so you listened to your mom's listen?
00:04:03.600 My mom was an angel, and my stepfather was a devil, basically, if you would say, he was
00:04:09.000 totally crazy.
00:04:10.000 I think at that time in the countryside, I grew up in the countryside, you know, they didn't
00:04:14.800 diagnose people, he was totally bipolar, so he could be really nice, but then he would
00:04:20.680 go off, and he used to have a drinking problem, and, I mean, he was violent, and got into fights,
00:04:26.920 I mean, he was crazy.
00:04:28.180 And you avoided him, you tried to avoid him as much as possible.
00:04:30.180 As much as possible, so when I was 14, I left my home, when I was 17, I left the country,
00:04:36.520 I moved to France.
00:04:37.520 You know, a lot of times you sit down with somebody, I don't know if you know Steve Aoki,
00:04:40.140 the DJ, his mom.
00:04:41.140 I know him very well.
00:04:42.140 You know, similar story to yours, his mom was very supportive, loving, you can do everything,
00:04:47.380 but his dad was, you know, founding Benihana, never around, to him it said, in life, business
00:04:52.120 is first, then comes, you know, family.
00:04:54.380 Yeah.
00:04:55.380 Do you think as a boy coming up, you notice a trend where someone in the family had to
00:05:02.420 be a little bit challenging you, pushing you, like difficult in your life, for you to have
00:05:06.260 that kind of an ambition to want to go out and prove a point, you think there's a little
00:05:09.140 bit of that?
00:05:10.140 Well, I don't know if it is part of it too, where if you have a really comfortable life
00:05:17.140 when you're young, and everything is prepared for you, you're sent to the right school, you
00:05:22.520 have the right, you have your own room at home, and you have everything, maybe there's less
00:05:28.780 challenges, maybe there's less motivation, and maybe you don't achieve.
00:05:33.540 So sometimes I ask myself now, I said, maybe, not to say it was a good thing the way my stepfather
00:05:40.120 left, but maybe he motivated me more, because I remember when I went to France, and one day
00:05:45.120 I told him, I won't come home until I get a Mercedes and I'm going to come and drive it
00:05:50.120 into your living room, through the wall.
00:05:52.500 You're telling this to your stepdad?
00:05:53.500 I told my stepdad, and then, you know what happened, years and years later, he came here
00:05:59.500 with my mother, so I had to be nice to him because of my mother.
00:06:04.500 So they stayed together?
00:06:05.500 They stayed together, she should have shot him, would have been a good deed maybe, I told
00:06:11.500 you many times, but then, you know, I said, what am I going to do, I cannot ignore my mother,
00:06:16.500 we only have one mother, so I sent them on cruises, and every year they came here, went 0.97
00:06:21.500 on a cruise to South America, to the Caribbean, everywhere really they were in.
00:06:26.500 So, for me, it was really special to really treat my mother really right, but he came
00:06:31.500 along for the ride.
00:06:32.500 Is he still around or no?
00:06:33.500 No.
00:06:34.500 So, did your last moments with him, was it good, or was it you still to the very end,
00:06:38.500 you were not too fond of him?
00:06:40.500 You know, I wasn't too fond of him, the way I speak, I am obviously not too fond of him
00:06:45.500 now, because I really think, when you live your life, you cannot really go on and just
00:06:51.500 forgive.
00:06:52.500 You know, I forgave to a point, where I said, okay, I tolerate him, but I don't going to
00:06:59.500 say, I want to be friends or love him.
00:07:01.500 So, almost like I'll forgive, but I won't forget what happens.
00:07:04.500 Exactly.
00:07:05.500 So, I also heard somewhere you said, you were working at a restaurant, and the head
00:07:11.500 chef, or somebody said, you'll never amount to anything, or something like that.
00:07:14.500 Exactly.
00:07:15.500 You had your stepdad, but you also had another person that said in the world.
00:07:18.500 Exactly.
00:07:19.500 So, when I was 14, I left my home.
00:07:22.500 Okay.
00:07:23.500 I remember it was like, on the fall day, it was raining, and cloudy, and you know, foggy
00:07:29.500 all over, and I took the train to the town.
00:07:32.500 And my father, my stepfather, when I left, he said, he always told me I was good for
00:07:37.500 nothing.
00:07:38.500 So, when I left, he said, you're good for nothing, in three weeks you're going to be
00:07:42.500 back home, and ask me for money, and he went on and on.
00:07:45.500 And I just went, and I remember my grandmother took me to the train station, which was about
00:07:50.500 an hour walk.
00:07:51.500 We didn't have a car or anything.
00:07:53.500 So, I went there, and then started to work, obviously, in this hotel in Villach.
00:07:59.500 And then, maybe a month into it or so, and the chef was crazy, a little bit there, too
00:08:05.500 drunk.
00:08:06.500 You know, in the old time, the chefs used to drink a lot, and he was like this bully guy.
00:08:10.500 On a Sunday, we ran out of potatoes.
00:08:12.500 So, no more mashed potatoes, no more potatoes with parsley, which was a big thing in Austria.
00:08:17.500 And then, they blamed it on me.
00:08:19.500 I was this 14-year-old kid, not even five foot tall.
00:08:22.500 And then, the chef, after lunch, he called me over, and says, you know, you should go
00:08:26.500 back home to your mother. 0.99
00:08:27.500 You're too young to do that.
00:08:29.500 You're too little.
00:08:30.500 Your mother should breastfeed you for another year. 1.00
00:08:32.500 Maybe you grow up.
00:08:33.500 Like, he was crazy.
00:08:34.500 And then, he said, okay, you're out.
00:08:37.500 You're gone.
00:08:38.500 You know, we fire you.
00:08:39.500 And it was probably one of my worst days.
00:08:41.500 So, I didn't know what to do.
00:08:43.500 It was, like, Sunday evening.
00:08:45.500 We had a big river going through the town.
00:08:48.500 I went on the bridge where the train goes over.
00:08:50.500 So, it was a high bridge, and I said, I'm going to kill myself.
00:08:53.500 I'm going to jump into the water, and I'm not going home, for sure.
00:08:56.500 So, I stood there, and stood there, like, for maybe an hour.
00:08:59.500 What are I going to do?
00:09:00.500 How am I going to jump?
00:09:01.500 And what will happen after?
00:09:02.500 I was thinking, do I going to go to hell or to heaven?
00:09:05.500 And, you know, what is it?
00:09:06.500 All these thoughts are going through my mind.
00:09:08.500 And how are you 14?
00:09:09.500 14.
00:09:10.500 At 14, you're thinking about taking your life.
00:09:12.500 Yeah.
00:09:13.500 And then, finally, and now I was so into it, I said, okay, you know what?
00:09:17.500 I'm just going to go back tomorrow and see what happened.
00:09:19.500 So, I went off the bridge, went home, couldn't sleep all night, obviously.
00:09:23.500 Went early in the morning, like at 7, to the hotel restaurant.
00:09:28.500 And then, the apprentice, who was ahead of me, saw me coming back, and he was so happy.
00:09:33.500 He said, oh, you're back.
00:09:34.500 And I said, thank God.
00:09:35.500 So, I don't have to peel potatoes and do all that thing for another six months.
00:09:38.500 And then, he took me and took me down into the vegetable cellar.
00:09:42.500 And I was sitting on a crate down there, peeling potatoes and carrots and onions and all that stuff.
00:09:49.500 Bought me little sandwiches down.
00:09:51.500 So, after about three weeks into that, the chef came down and sees me there.
00:09:55.500 And he said, what are you doing here?
00:09:57.500 Screaming at me.
00:09:58.500 You're fired.
00:09:59.500 Why are you still here?
00:10:00.500 And this and that.
00:10:01.500 And get out of here.
00:10:02.500 And I said, I'm not leaving.
00:10:03.500 You told him you're not leaving?
00:10:04.500 Yeah.
00:10:05.500 He grabbed me and says, get out of here.
00:10:07.500 I put my heels in.
00:10:08.500 I said, I'm not leaving.
00:10:10.500 I was this little guy and he was this big bully.
00:10:13.500 Finally, he didn't know what to do.
00:10:14.500 So, he called the manager and the owner.
00:10:17.500 And they came down.
00:10:18.500 And he told them, you know, I don't know what to do with him.
00:10:20.500 He is too little.
00:10:21.500 He is stupid.
00:10:22.500 He doesn't know how to do that.
00:10:23.500 He is too young.
00:10:24.500 Every word possible to make me feel bad and negative.
00:10:28.500 And then, the owner was a little nicer.
00:10:30.500 He said, okay, you know what?
00:10:32.500 We'll send you to our other hotel.
00:10:34.500 They had another small hotel in town.
00:10:36.500 And maybe over there, it will be better for you.
00:10:38.500 So, I said, okay.
00:10:39.500 So, they sent me to the other hotel.
00:10:41.500 Over there, they had the lady who was a chef. 1.00
00:10:43.500 And she said, oh, just be nice.
00:10:45.500 Do what we tell you to do.
00:10:47.500 And don't make any waves.
00:10:48.500 Just do your job.
00:10:49.500 And everything will be fine.
00:10:51.500 And so, it was good.
00:10:53.500 And then, I started.
00:10:54.500 Everything was good.
00:10:55.500 Every year, we went for three months to school.
00:10:59.500 We as who?
00:11:00.500 We as...
00:11:01.500 All the kids.
00:11:02.500 All the apprentices.
00:11:03.500 Not all together.
00:11:04.500 So, they had this apprenticeship program where you went for three years.
00:11:10.500 And part of it, you had to go to the school to learn, you know, more theoretical stuff.
00:11:16.500 And also cooking, the principle of cooking a little bit.
00:11:19.500 So, every week, we had like three or four afternoons cooking.
00:11:22.500 In the morning, you know, we got the little English lessons, math lessons, bookkeeping lessons, and so forth.
00:11:28.500 So, when I came back then, for the first three months, we always had to go to the owner and show him...
00:11:34.500 Everybody had to...
00:11:35.500 All the kids had to do that.
00:11:36.500 And show him the report card.
00:11:38.500 And I had straight A's.
00:11:39.500 So, the owner said, oh, my God.
00:11:41.500 It's the first time somebody has straight A's.
00:11:44.500 And he was a very smart guy.
00:11:46.500 He was actually a lawyer by trade.
00:11:48.500 Then, each time when he walked into the kitchen, he asked for the chef or said hello to the chef and said, where is Wolfgang?
00:11:55.500 So, all of a sudden, I became like an important kid in the kitchen.
00:11:58.500 And the other kids were almost jealous of me.
00:12:00.500 They said, why is he only asking for him?
00:12:02.500 Was that the first time where you had somebody that believed in you?
00:12:04.500 Yeah.
00:12:05.500 Because I know your mom is supportive.
00:12:06.500 Yeah, my mom was very supportive.
00:12:08.500 And somebody doesn't tell me I'm good for nothing, you know.
00:12:11.500 So, all of a sudden, my esteem went better.
00:12:13.500 That's great.
00:12:14.500 You're what?
00:12:15.500 You're 15, 16 at that time?
00:12:16.500 15, yeah.
00:12:17.500 15.
00:12:18.500 So, why didn't you jump?
00:12:19.500 You know, looking back, you know, I just...
00:12:21.500 All of a sudden, it came to my mind.
00:12:22.500 I said, maybe he gonna change his mind.
00:12:24.500 Maybe he was drunk.
00:12:27.500 Maybe, you know, maybe he gonna say, oh, he wants to come back.
00:12:31.500 Okay, I'll try one more time.
00:12:32.500 Maybe let's give him one more try.
00:12:34.500 So, all these things, all these different scenarios went through my head when I looked down in the dark.
00:12:39.500 You know, it was like looking down a big dark hole with the river with the ice blocks going down and everything, so...
00:12:46.500 Yeah, there's a video that went viral.
00:12:48.500 They interviewed the 100 people that jumped off of Bay Bridge who they committed suicide.
00:12:55.500 So, there's 2,000 people that jumped off.
00:12:57.500 Everybody died except for 100.
00:12:58.500 100 made it.
00:12:59.500 Some number like that.
00:13:00.500 And they interviewed them.
00:13:01.500 Okay, what happened after you jumped?
00:13:02.500 And every one of them said, from the moment we let go, there was a regret.
00:13:06.500 So, it's amazing how you're saying it because there's a lot of conversation right now about suicide going around the world.
00:13:11.500 Well, you know, I think millions of people around the world are glad you didn't because our appetite is very happy with you.
00:13:17.500 You know what I'm saying?
00:13:18.500 I'm happy too.
00:13:19.500 I'm happy too.
00:13:20.500 Yeah.
00:13:21.500 So, the fact that you did that.
00:13:22.500 Okay, from there you went.
00:13:23.500 So, you kind of are going through class.
00:13:25.500 You're getting straight A's.
00:13:26.500 The man who's an attorney, he's kind of taking a liking into you.
00:13:30.500 He's liking you.
00:13:31.500 So, what happens next from there?
00:13:32.500 So, then in the third year when I was 16 or 17 like that, we had this restaurant from France come to cook for one week their food from Burgundy from Dijon.
00:13:42.500 It's a restaurant called Trois Faisons.
00:13:44.500 And they came and I looked the way they cooked like they made chicken in red wine sauce.
00:13:49.500 Coco vin they call it or boeuf bourguignon or they made pâtés.
00:13:52.500 They used wine like bottles of wine and reduced it and simmered the chicken and they brought snails.
00:13:58.500 Like we didn't have snails in Austria and so I said I want to go to France.
00:14:03.500 So, I wrote them a note.
00:14:06.500 You know, I would like to come and practice there for a year or so as a stagiaire and they accepted me.
00:14:12.500 So, I went there with the train.
00:14:15.500 It took like a day and a half.
00:14:16.500 How old are you at this?
00:14:17.500 Seventeen.
00:14:18.500 Seventeen.
00:14:19.500 Yeah.
00:14:20.500 About a year into it, the owner and chef of the restaurant in Dijon, there's a party for the staff.
00:14:24.500 I spoke French already at that time, so a little bit at least.
00:14:28.500 And then the party was because we got a star in the Gitte Michelin.
00:14:32.500 And I had no idea at that time about the Gitte Michelin.
00:14:35.500 So, I took one book and we got one star.
00:14:38.500 So, everybody said, oh, now we are like one of the top restaurants in France or the top restaurant, the way they were talking.
00:14:45.500 And then I take the book and I said, oh my God, there are two star restaurants and three star restaurants.
00:14:50.500 So, then I said, before going back to Austria, I want to work in a three star restaurant.
00:14:54.500 And then I wrote to Bocuse and Trois Gros and La Serre and all the famous restaurants.
00:15:00.500 And the first one who responded positive was Raymond Tullier at Beaumaniere in south of France, near Marseille.
00:15:09.500 Three star.
00:15:10.500 Three star, yeah.
00:15:11.500 There's not that many three stars around the world.
00:15:12.500 No, at that time there were twelve.
00:15:14.500 Twelve three stars around the world.
00:15:16.500 Yeah, they didn't have it international, it was only France.
00:15:19.500 Got it.
00:15:20.500 And then they went to Germany, Italy, France and so on to Spain and America, everywhere now.
00:15:25.500 Yeah.
00:15:26.500 I started there and over there the owner and chef was 72 years old.
00:15:30.500 But he was so passionate about food, about the products.
00:15:35.500 And I still remember as a kid there and he used to bring, Picasso used to come to the restaurant.
00:15:40.500 He used to walk with Picasso into the kitchen.
00:15:43.500 Picasso was a little guy, he was big, walked him around.
00:15:46.500 At Picasso.
00:15:47.500 Yeah.
00:15:48.500 You served Picasso, you came for Picasso.
00:15:49.500 Yeah.
00:15:50.500 We had the Queen of England came.
00:15:52.500 Wow.
00:15:53.500 We had like at that time Elizabeth Taylor came and Richard Burton.
00:15:56.500 I remember I was there years into it.
00:15:59.500 One day Peter O'Toole, a famous actor from England, he used to film there somewhere.
00:16:04.500 And my friend was a waiter and he was sitting by himself drinking.
00:16:09.500 And then I had the little motorbike, I had to drive him to the part of the hotel on my motorbike,
00:16:14.500 which was a small house, like a dependent house.
00:16:18.500 And he was hanging on to me and I was driving him to his room, to his hotel.
00:16:24.500 Wow.
00:16:25.500 So it was an interesting thing.
00:16:26.500 And that's when I really said, I want to do that for a living.
00:16:29.500 I said, I want to be like Raymond Trillier.
00:16:31.500 So until that moment you hadn't, you hadn't decided yet?
00:16:34.500 I hadn't decided.
00:16:35.500 You were just kind of doing it because your mom does this.
00:16:37.500 Yeah.
00:16:38.500 Because my mom, because I wanted to get away from my stepfather.
00:16:41.500 And then at that time I had a friend who was a truck driver.
00:16:44.500 And he used to drive from Trieste in Italy to Vienna.
00:16:47.500 And he made a lot of money.
00:16:49.500 I mean, for me at that time, you know, I made maybe, I don't know, 500 shilling at that time a month.
00:16:55.500 And he made 5,000.
00:16:56.500 That's a lot of money.
00:16:57.500 I know.
00:16:58.500 For a kid with 5,000 shilling, I could buy a car or a nice motorbike and go skiing.
00:17:03.500 I didn't have to walk up the mountain.
00:17:05.500 I could take the lift and everything.
00:17:07.500 Go out with the girl and everything.
00:17:09.500 So I wasn't sure.
00:17:11.500 But then Trillier became my mentor.
00:17:14.500 And I think when I was 19, really it changed my life.
00:17:18.500 And I was cooking next to him.
00:17:21.500 So he was making all the sauces and everything.
00:17:24.500 And somehow he took a liking on me because I wasn't scared of him.
00:17:28.500 And like when he made something, or I made something, he tasted it and said,
00:17:33.500 Okay, put a little salt, put a little pepper, put a little lemon juice, whatever it is in the sauce.
00:17:38.500 And then I said, Okay, I put the things in.
00:17:40.500 And then when he made something, he said, Taste it.
00:17:43.500 I taste it.
00:17:44.500 I said, Oh, maybe a little salt and pepper, maybe a little this.
00:17:47.500 And he looked at me.
00:17:48.500 Okay.
00:17:49.500 He didn't say it.
00:17:50.500 So he took counsel from you.
00:17:51.500 Yeah.
00:17:52.500 And I was like 19 years old.
00:17:53.500 Wow.
00:17:54.500 Did that kind of give you confidence?
00:17:55.500 Oh, totally.
00:17:56.500 Somebody like him listens to you.
00:17:57.500 Yeah, totally.
00:17:58.500 And everybody else, when he made something, they tasted it and said, Oh, it's delicious.
00:18:02.500 You know, Oh, it's very good.
00:18:04.500 You know, nobody would tell him a little more this or a little more that except me.
00:18:08.500 And I thought, no big deal.
00:18:10.500 You know.
00:18:11.500 Was he crazy?
00:18:12.500 Was he the typical chef?
00:18:13.500 Because he has multiple personalities.
00:18:14.500 Yeah.
00:18:15.500 No, he had a passion.
00:18:17.500 He was 72 years old.
00:18:19.500 He was so passionate.
00:18:21.500 So he had this huge gardens with six gardeners providing all the ingredients we used in the
00:18:29.500 kitchen.
00:18:30.500 Like we get the tiniest string beans, the best strawberries or the best melons and things like
00:18:35.500 made in the garden.
00:18:36.500 Made in the garden.
00:18:37.500 The gardens that he had.
00:18:38.500 With the six gardeners in his garden.
00:18:39.500 Yeah.
00:18:40.500 Wow.
00:18:41.500 And he had olive orchards.
00:18:43.500 So we used to go in November when it wasn't busy.
00:18:45.500 We picked the olive trees, shook the olive trees with a big tablecloth underneath and picked
00:18:49.500 up all the olives and made olive oil and everything.
00:18:52.500 So to me, it was really the beginning where I said, wow, this guy is amazing.
00:18:57.500 He's 72 years old.
00:18:59.500 And he actually was so nice to me.
00:19:01.500 And like one day when he went on vacation, I still remember, he told the chef who was at
00:19:06.500 that time, maybe 40 years old or so.
00:19:09.500 He said, I'm leaving for a week, but Wolfgang has to stay here and do the sauces and make sure
00:19:14.500 he doesn't take a day off.
00:19:15.500 Yeah.
00:19:16.500 He noted the sauce close to the way he was making the sauce.
00:19:18.500 Yeah.
00:19:19.500 And he gave me all his confidence then.
00:19:21.500 And so I think he changed really my life.
00:19:24.500 That's powerful right now.
00:19:25.500 And you know, the funniest thing is talking about Iran. 0.59
00:19:28.500 So when I was there, Maxime in Paris and Beaumontia did the 2000 anniversary of the
00:19:35.500 Imperial.
00:19:36.500 1972 or 74, somewhere around there.
00:19:39.500 Yeah.
00:19:40.500 And I was supposed to go and I forgot, I didn't have a passport because I...
00:19:45.500 You were supposed to go to the 2500 year celebration in Iran.
00:19:48.500 Yeah, totally.
00:19:49.500 And they went, Beaumontia went, Maxime went, and you know, they...
00:19:52.500 Everybody.
00:19:53.500 I mean, that was like the party to go to.
00:19:54.500 I know.
00:19:55.500 It was an amazing thing without in...
00:19:57.500 Persepolis.
00:19:58.500 Persepolis.
00:19:59.500 Wow.
00:20:00.500 And you remember that.
00:20:01.500 Yeah, totally, totally.
00:20:02.500 Totally, totally.
00:20:03.500 And I go and they said to you, like two days before, I said, okay, you need your passport.
00:20:08.500 They want to know your passport.
00:20:10.500 And I said, shit, I don't have my passport.
00:20:13.500 I lost it.
00:20:14.500 I don't know what happened.
00:20:15.500 Wow.
00:20:16.500 So how many years did you work under him?
00:20:17.500 How many years?
00:20:18.500 Two and a half years, almost three years.
00:20:19.500 Got it.
00:20:20.500 And really then, like I was 20 years old.
00:20:23.500 He had another restaurant.
00:20:24.500 He had a three-star restaurant and a one-star restaurant.
00:20:26.500 He fired the chef in a one-star restaurant and put me there for a year as the chef in
00:20:31.500 a one-star restaurant.
00:20:32.500 I was 20 years old.
00:20:33.500 I had five French guys with me.
00:20:35.500 They were my cooks.
00:20:36.500 And they were all older than me.
00:20:38.500 So it was tough for me to order them around because they said, who is this Austrian?
00:20:42.500 You know, we are the French, you know, we know about food, we are much better.
00:20:46.500 But he really trusted me and that really changed my life, you know, and gave me confidence.
00:20:52.500 I bet.
00:20:53.500 And I don't know.
00:20:54.500 So somehow it took me to the next level.
00:20:56.500 So what do you do next after that?
00:20:58.500 So you have this experience?
00:20:59.500 Are you kind of getting confidence?
00:21:01.500 Confidence, yeah.
00:21:02.500 So then I went to work in Monaco at L'Hotel de Paris and I didn't like it there because
00:21:07.500 it was so structured but it was boring in comparison to Beaumagnier.
00:21:11.500 Was it also Michelin one-star?
00:21:12.500 Yeah, maybe one-star or two-star.
00:21:14.500 But very formal, not individual.
00:21:16.500 You know, it was everything like the books, you know, like Escoffier style.
00:21:20.500 And then I went to see Mr. Tullier and I said, you know, I don't know what to do.
00:21:24.500 I want to go somewhere else if he can help me.
00:21:27.500 So he said, okay, I'm going to Paris and I'm going to see Mr. Vaudable, the owner of Maxime's,
00:21:32.500 which was a three-star restaurant.
00:21:34.500 And maybe they find you a job there.
00:21:36.500 And he did.
00:21:37.500 So I started to work at Maxime's in Paris.
00:21:39.500 So you have experience with two three-star restaurants.
00:21:41.500 Yeah.
00:21:42.500 How different was the one in Paris than the one you worked at in?
00:21:45.500 Well, Beaumagnier was mainly the owner and chef.
00:21:49.500 I said, I want to be like him.
00:21:51.500 I want to own my own restaurant.
00:21:53.500 I want to own my own destiny.
00:21:55.500 I don't want to go to somebody to ask for a race.
00:21:58.500 So you modeled your career after him?
00:22:00.500 After him.
00:22:01.500 Okay.
00:22:02.500 And then how was the one in Paris?
00:22:03.500 In Paris was very good.
00:22:05.500 I loved it because it was a very upscale French restaurant.
00:22:09.500 Again, everybody, the whole world used to go to Maxime's in Paris.
00:22:13.500 I remember like Onassis was a regular Salvador Dali. 0.86
00:22:17.500 And all these people used to come.
00:22:19.500 All the actors.
00:22:20.500 I saw Charlie Chaplin there waiting outside for his limousine.
00:22:24.500 And so it was an amazing experience.
00:22:26.500 The Kennedys used to come.
00:22:28.500 The whole clan used to come.
00:22:29.500 Maxime's was the place to go.
00:22:31.500 I mean, I remember Shiskar d'Estaing was the finance minister at that time.
00:22:36.500 He used to have lunch there every day because Ruiz Rivoli, which is the minister of finance there.
00:22:41.500 They were not far away.
00:22:43.500 So it was a great experience too.
00:22:45.500 But the cooking or what inspired me was Mr. Tuillier at Beaumagnier.
00:22:50.500 Still.
00:22:51.500 Still, I said, I want to be like him.
00:22:53.500 Not like the chef at Maxime's who was very good, but he worked for somebody.
00:22:57.500 So to me at that time, I said, I want to create my own destiny.
00:23:02.500 So I want to say correctly, Beaumagnier.
00:23:04.500 Beaumagnier.
00:23:05.500 Beaumagnier.
00:23:06.500 Beaumagnier.
00:23:07.500 Beaumagnier is B-A-U-M-A-N-I-E-R-E.
00:23:11.500 So Beaumagnier, you worked with him and you worked at the place in France.
00:23:16.500 Yeah.
00:23:17.500 At this point, are you making money yet or you're not making money?
00:23:19.500 No.
00:23:20.500 So you're not making money yet.
00:23:21.500 Beaumagnier, I didn't make much money.
00:23:22.500 L'Hôtel de Paris, I didn't make much money.
00:23:24.500 And Maxime's, the last six months, the night chef, because Maxime was open late after theater and everything.
00:23:31.500 So we had a lot of people coming after the opera and like at that time, like Maria Callas used to sing and so forth.
00:23:38.500 So then I used to come and the night chef who was responsible for the kitchen left to open his own restaurant.
00:23:44.500 And then the chef told me, oh, you're going to be the chef now at night with five chefs in a three-star restaurant.
00:23:51.500 And I said, okay.
00:23:52.500 And there is the first time I made money.
00:23:54.500 So I bought a car.
00:23:55.500 Remember, I bought an Alfa Romeo from one of the...
00:23:58.500 Wow.
00:23:59.500 Yeah.
00:24:00.500 And that was like a chic car.
00:24:01.500 Alfa Romeo is like...
00:24:02.500 When I went to a club or, you know, to a disco at that time, and the girls saw me driving an Alfa and said, okay.
00:24:07.500 Alfa Romeo was a racing car in Europe, it seems very well on racing.
00:24:10.500 Yeah, a sports car.
00:24:11.500 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:24:12.500 In America, not really in Europe.
00:24:13.500 In Europe, it was big at that time.
00:24:15.500 Very big.
00:24:16.500 Yeah.
00:24:17.500 You have an Alfa Romeo, you're making a little bit of money.
00:24:19.500 So what happens next for you to say, I want to come...
00:24:22.500 You seem like you're a person who modeled.
00:24:24.500 You seem like you're somebody that's extremely driven because of what happened with your stepdad and you wanted to prove a point.
00:24:29.500 You had somebody who loved you, which is your mom.
00:24:31.500 And then you modeled somebody who believed in you, Beaumannier.
00:24:35.500 But then after that, what was the inspiration to say, I'm coming to America?
00:24:38.500 So when I worked at Maxime's in Paris, Maxime's opened a restaurant in Chicago.
00:24:44.500 And Maxime's in Chicago.
00:24:45.500 Got it.
00:24:46.500 And then the pastry chef, who I became good friends with, opened the restaurant in Chicago with Maxime's.
00:24:52.500 And then he came back to France after a year or two years.
00:24:55.500 Worked again at the restaurant in Paris, at Maxime's in Paris.
00:24:59.500 And he and me became very friendly and hung out and everything.
00:25:03.500 And then he said, you are young.
00:25:05.500 And obviously I watched all these cowboy movies.
00:25:08.500 I watched movies where they all drive this big Chevrolet and Cadillacs and everything.
00:25:12.500 I said, everybody is rich in America.
00:25:14.500 I want to go to America.
00:25:15.500 And then I left Maxime's.
00:25:17.500 The chef said, okay, if you don't come back in the next two months, I give your job to somebody else.
00:25:21.500 But I will wait because I really like you.
00:25:24.500 And I went.
00:25:25.500 And then I didn't like New York.
00:25:26.500 I didn't like the restaurant.
00:25:27.500 It was called La Goulue where I was supposed to work.
00:25:30.500 You didn't like New York as a city or you didn't like your experience with the restaurant?
00:25:34.500 Both.
00:25:35.500 I don't know.
00:25:36.500 Because you just didn't connect with it.
00:25:37.500 I didn't know where to go.
00:25:38.500 Like I remember I arrived at the airport and the taxi asked me where I want to go.
00:25:42.500 And I said, I want to go to New York City.
00:25:44.500 And he said, but where?
00:25:45.500 I said, well, to a hotel around the Empire State Building because I knew the Empire State Building.
00:25:50.500 And then he dropped me off in a cheap hotel and he probably saw the young kid like that.
00:25:54.500 And I remember we had cockroaches all over and everything was terrible.
00:25:57.500 And then the restaurant I was supposed to work was like a pisto.
00:26:01.500 And I said, I worked in all these three-star restaurants.
00:26:04.500 This is not the cooking I love, you know, that way.
00:26:07.500 There's nothing wrong with the pisto, obviously.
00:26:09.500 But I was young.
00:26:10.500 I said, I want to play at this level, not at this level.
00:26:14.500 And so then through a friend there, they found me a job in Indianapolis.
00:26:19.500 And I got so excited because.
00:26:21.500 All the cities in Indianapolis.
00:26:23.500 But I am still, but I was always a fan of outdoor racing.
00:26:27.500 So like for me Formula One was like the top sport.
00:26:30.500 Yes.
00:26:31.500 And the Indy 500 is the top race in the world maybe at that time for sure.
00:26:37.500 So what year was that?
00:26:38.500 Is that still in the 70s or are we in the 70s?
00:26:40.500 Yeah, in the 70s.
00:26:41.500 In the mid 70s, in the 74.
00:26:43.500 74.
00:26:44.500 So eight years before Spago gets started.
00:26:46.500 Yeah.
00:26:47.500 So then I worked in Indianapolis for a year.
00:26:49.500 Then came to Los Angeles.
00:26:52.500 I started to work in a restaurant called Ma Maison, which I had no idea at that time how bad it was or whatever.
00:27:00.500 I quit my job and then started to work there.
00:27:03.500 And my first paycheck bounced.
00:27:05.500 I said, what the heck?
00:27:06.500 I never had that happen in my life.
00:27:07.500 So I went to the owner, Patrick Deray, who's his uncle owned La Tour d'Argent in Paris.
00:27:13.500 And I said, what are you going to do?
00:27:14.500 They said, there's no money in the bank.
00:27:16.500 And you know, they only did like 30 lunches and maybe that many dinners.
00:27:19.500 He said, well, and then we worked out a deal where I became a part owner.
00:27:24.500 And he says, so that way you get some upside if the restaurant as well.
00:27:28.500 Sure enough, the restaurant started to get better and better.
00:27:31.500 We got more and more customers coming.
00:27:34.500 And I remember at one point, Gourmet Magazine called up and says, oh, we went to the restaurant.
00:27:42.500 The critic, he wanted some information.
00:27:44.500 And so we talked and said, oh, my God, I had this caramel ice cream.
00:27:48.500 It was amazing.
00:27:49.500 I had this fish and puff pastry.
00:27:51.500 It's good.
00:27:52.500 I said, Paul Bocuse in Lyon and so on.
00:27:54.500 And they went on and on.
00:27:55.500 And they wrote this amazing review.
00:27:59.500 And then I told Patrick, I said, I don't know what we're going to do.
00:28:01.500 It's just we started to get busy in the restaurant with a lot of locals.
00:28:04.500 People like Orson Welles used to come every day for lunch.
00:28:08.500 I used to sit with him, talk with him.
00:28:10.500 I said, now I'm not going to be able to serve them anymore.
00:28:13.500 Because everybody from all over the country is going to know we have this restaurant.
00:28:17.500 So we decided to take out the listing in the phone book.
00:28:21.500 You know, there was no cell phones at that time and everything.
00:28:23.500 Why?
00:28:24.500 Because so we don't, we only get the people who know us can come and the other ones not.
00:28:28.500 To keep it elite.
00:28:29.500 To keep it elite.
00:28:30.500 But when you did that, did you raise prices?
00:28:32.500 No, nothing.
00:28:33.500 You kept it the same.
00:28:34.500 We kept everything the same.
00:28:35.500 I was just so concerned.
00:28:37.500 I said, we have to serve our customers.
00:28:39.500 We have.
00:28:40.500 So that way they can get a table.
00:28:42.500 That way we can serve them.
00:28:43.500 I still had a very small kitchen.
00:28:45.500 And so I said, we cannot go instead of serving 80 dinners, all of a sudden serve 150.
00:28:50.500 It would be impossible.
00:28:51.500 So that's what happened.
00:28:52.500 So we took that out.
00:28:54.500 Then the next thing is People Magazine wrote this huge article about how snobby, how chic,
00:29:01.500 everything on Amazon is.
00:29:03.500 They even have an unlisted telephone number.
00:29:06.500 So then, and they say, and they said, by the way, that is the number.
00:29:11.500 That makes everybody want to go.
00:29:13.500 Totally.
00:29:14.500 And they published the number.
00:29:15.500 People Magazine published the number.
00:29:17.500 So then we had to put a private number for our regular guests.
00:29:19.500 They got the private number because the phone rang off the hook.
00:29:22.500 And then I built a bigger kitchen.
00:29:24.500 But then I still said, you know what?
00:29:26.500 I'm a part owner.
00:29:27.500 Instead of having confidence in me.
00:29:30.500 Like for example, when he went on vacation, he told the Metadie to sign the checks, not me.
00:29:35.500 And I said, he's crazy.
00:29:36.500 The Metadie comes to work.
00:29:38.500 I produce for 65 or 70% of the income of the restaurant because I'm the chef.
00:29:43.500 I decide if we make money or not, basically.
00:29:46.500 And then he has this guy who is a nice guy, but signed the checks instead of me.
00:29:51.500 So I got really pissed off.
00:29:52.500 And then I said, you know, I don't think that's going to work out in the long term.
00:29:56.500 But I still felt, in a way, guilty a little bit to leave.
00:29:59.500 So I stayed on.
00:30:00.500 And then one day I found this new location on Sunset.
00:30:04.500 And I went to Patrick and I said, you know, I found this location, but we have to change the way we operate.
00:30:10.500 We have to create a restaurant company, an operating company.
00:30:13.500 We're going to run the restaurants, but we have to be 50-50 partners.
00:30:16.500 Not that I own 10% and you own 50%, you know.
00:30:19.500 He says, no, I always going to own 51%.
00:30:22.500 Well, then I said, well, that me too.
00:30:24.500 So then we left.
00:30:26.500 I left to leave.
00:30:27.500 What year is that?
00:30:28.500 That's then in 81.
00:30:30.500 Okay.
00:30:31.500 You left?
00:30:32.500 In 81.
00:30:33.500 81.
00:30:34.500 Yeah.
00:30:35.500 So I stayed there for six years.
00:30:36.500 I built up my maison from $18,000 business a month to $300,000 a month.
00:30:42.500 That's a lot.
00:30:43.500 And that was in, yeah, in the seventies.
00:30:45.500 So.
00:30:46.500 Wow.
00:30:47.500 Did it become a one star, two star?
00:30:48.500 Was there a Michelin?
00:30:49.500 No, there was no Michelin.
00:30:50.500 But we were of the top three restaurants in the city.
00:30:53.500 And, you know, everybody used to come to the restaurant.
00:30:56.500 I used to cook for all the big movie people and record theater.
00:31:00.500 You met everybody.
00:31:01.500 Yeah, totally, totally.
00:31:02.500 You probably had dinner, wine, drinks, with everybody.
00:31:04.500 Uh-huh.
00:31:05.500 So then you come out here.
00:31:06.500 Then, so that was here in LA.
00:31:08.500 Okay.
00:31:09.500 And then I found this location.
00:31:11.500 And because Patrick didn't want to be 50-50 partner, I had to leave.
00:31:15.500 This location?
00:31:16.500 The first location up on Sunset.
00:31:18.500 Yeah.
00:31:19.500 Yeah.
00:31:20.500 So then in 82, in January, I opened Spargo.
00:31:23.500 So Spargo was the first restaurant with an open kitchen.
00:31:27.500 I built the open kitchen.
00:31:28.500 I said, I want to manage the whole restaurant.
00:31:30.500 I want to see the customers.
00:31:31.500 I want to see how everything works.
00:31:33.500 You were the first open kitchen?
00:31:34.500 Yeah.
00:31:35.500 Of any upscale restaurant.
00:31:36.500 Yeah.
00:31:37.500 Wow.
00:31:38.500 And now it's very customary.
00:31:39.500 Yeah.
00:31:40.500 Everybody has it now.
00:31:41.500 Yeah.
00:31:42.500 Open kitchen, yes.
00:31:43.500 We were the first one, like here in LA, to have a wood burning oven, a wood burning grill
00:31:47.500 and everything.
00:31:48.500 So we cooked everything over light fire.
00:31:50.500 And I think, but the open kitchen really was this thing all of a sudden.
00:31:55.500 Then I thought, I'm going to have this neighborhood restaurant, you know, up on Sunset Boulevard.
00:31:59.500 You had the houses up in the hills and everything.
00:32:01.500 And it became this instant success.
00:32:04.500 I remember three weeks into it, Billy Wilder, who was a famous movie director and also Austrian
00:32:09.500 like me, brought in Sidney Poitier and Jack Lemmon and John Collins.
00:32:14.500 So they were all sitting on one big table and somebody from the newspaper or whatever was
00:32:18.500 there too.
00:32:19.500 And they said, oh, Spargo is the place to go now.
00:32:22.500 Everybody somehow had to go to Spargo.
00:32:24.500 We became this really amazingly busy restaurant.
00:32:28.500 Then I talked Swifty Lazare, who was like an agent, into doing the Oscar party there.
00:32:33.500 So we were packed every night.
00:32:36.500 And the funny thing was, because you had the front of the restaurant where all the VIP
00:32:40.500 were sitting and then the back, which was Siberia, and people used to get pissed over
00:32:44.500 and said, ah, you son of a bitch, you sent me over in Siberia again. 0.98
00:32:48.500 I said, no, the food is the same.
00:32:50.500 Everything is the same.
00:32:51.500 So let me ask you, there's a part, obviously you're very charming, you're very charismatic,
00:32:56.500 you're very attractive, your personality is very, very attractive.
00:32:59.500 You think that kind of helped you when it comes, because it looks like you have the creative
00:33:04.500 side, you have that part about creating, but also the other element of convincing Oscars
00:33:09.500 to want to, you know, do the Governor's Ball.
00:33:12.500 How many years has it been that you've done, I mean?
00:33:14.500 Well, we're doing the Governor's Ball in the 25th year already.
00:33:17.500 25th year already?
00:33:18.500 Yeah.
00:33:19.500 That's craziness to be able to say 25, 25 years.
00:33:22.500 So did you call them and you said, I want to.
00:33:24.500 They came to me and asked me, why you don't do our Governor's Ball, the Board of Governors.
00:33:30.500 Who was they?
00:33:31.500 Who was they?
00:33:32.500 The Board of Governors, the people who put on the Oscars.
00:33:34.500 They contacted me.
00:33:35.500 They have a Board of Governors.
00:33:36.500 So like, I remember at that time Arthur Heller, who was a famous director, you know,
00:33:41.500 who did Love Story and many other movies.
00:33:43.500 Yes, Love Story is a beautiful movie.
00:33:45.500 Yeah.
00:33:46.500 And Alan and Marilyn Bergman, who did all the songs for Barbara Streisand, were on the board.
00:33:50.500 And they used to come to Spargo one day and say, you know, we really would like you to cater the dinner.
00:33:55.500 And I said, okay, I'm going to try and see.
00:33:58.500 So when I did the first dinner after the awards, it was at the Shrine Auditorium.
00:34:02.500 I still remember like yesterday.
00:34:04.500 And normally they had nobody going to the dinner.
00:34:07.500 They all came to the party at Spargo.
00:34:09.500 So their restaurant, the whole room was full.
00:34:12.500 Everybody stayed for dinner and everybody ate.
00:34:16.500 And I remember Mike always came with Paul Newman and Robert Redford and all the people.
00:34:22.500 And I walked around.
00:34:23.500 These were the main actors at that time.
00:34:25.500 The big time.
00:34:26.500 Yeah, big time guys.
00:34:27.500 That was, you know, in 1995 or 1994 or something like that, you know.
00:34:33.500 So I think then after that now everybody goes to the Governor's Ball.
00:34:38.500 Whereas before it was always nothing, you know, nobody went.
00:34:41.500 I remember when we were at Spargo watching the Academy Awards with Swifty and his party.
00:34:47.500 And then some TV crew was over there at the Beverly Hilton where they had the Governor's Ball.
00:34:52.500 And it was empty.
00:34:53.500 And some of them went there with their Oscars, said hello and walked out.
00:34:56.500 And came to us.
00:34:58.500 Came to you.
00:34:59.500 Yeah.
00:35:00.500 That's the part about you that there has to be people wanting to help contribute to your success.
00:35:04.500 Like there's got to be an element of likeability.
00:35:07.500 Yeah.
00:35:08.500 With people.
00:35:09.500 So how much of your business world and what you think about, how much of your business is it the food?
00:35:13.500 Is it the recipes?
00:35:15.500 Is it what you do in the kitchen?
00:35:16.500 And how much of it is the service you provide me as a person that's coming to you?
00:35:19.500 Because there's some level of loyalty for service as well.
00:35:22.500 How we interact with the customer.
00:35:24.500 How we make them feel.
00:35:25.500 So sure, we have to make great food.
00:35:28.500 We have to give good service.
00:35:30.500 But we are in the hospitality business.
00:35:32.500 We want to make people feel good.
00:35:36.500 We want to make people feel happy when they come to a restaurant.
00:35:39.500 We want to make people feel that when they leave, they're going to make a reservation or they're going to think, oh, I'm going to come back as soon as I can.
00:35:48.500 You know the nightclub business.
00:35:49.500 A nightclub runs for like five to ten years in the 90s.
00:35:53.500 Dublins, you know, you had all these things and then they die out.
00:35:55.500 Yeah.
00:35:56.500 And the next one comes out.
00:35:57.500 Garden of Eden and then that Decentral Club, it dies out.
00:35:59.500 And so nightclub is almost like a cyclical cycle of five to ten.
00:36:02.500 Yeah.
00:36:03.500 Very similar to restaurants though, right?
00:36:04.500 36 years is a long time.
00:36:06.500 And now you're in Vegas, you're in Istanbul with Spago.
00:36:09.500 I'm not even talking cut.
00:36:10.500 Yeah.
00:36:11.500 You have it all these other places.
00:36:13.500 How did you manage it to keep staying attractive for the customers to want to keep coming back?
00:36:18.500 Because traditions changes, generations change.
00:36:21.500 So generationally you've done Boomer, Gen X, Millennial.
00:36:25.500 How are you doing that?
00:36:26.500 You know, it's an interesting experience because when I tell people that all these guests, for example, if it was Tony Curtis, Chuck Lemmon, Orson Welles,
00:36:35.500 Elizabeth Taylor, whoever, they're all dead now.
00:36:39.500 That's a different tradition.
00:36:40.500 It's a totally different generation. 0.99
00:36:41.500 If we stay the same, it's very difficult because then the younger people don't want to come.
00:36:48.500 But if you change too much, you lose all your base clientele.
00:36:52.500 So then you're in trouble too.
00:36:53.500 Then you have to get a complete new one.
00:36:55.500 So we have people who come here.
00:36:57.500 That's a powerful point you just made right there.
00:36:59.500 Because sometimes so many entrepreneurs are so concerned about only getting new customers.
00:37:04.500 They forget to keep the existing loyal customers.
00:37:06.500 They have a very good point.
00:37:07.500 Yeah.
00:37:08.500 That's how a lot of restaurants stay in business two years or even less or a little more.
00:37:14.500 Because I think you have to get a really good base clientele.
00:37:18.500 You have to have people who come and become repeat customers.
00:37:23.500 You know, it's very expensive always to get new customers in any business.
00:37:27.500 It's much cheaper to keep the old ones.
00:37:29.500 First of all, this has been a pleasure just listening to you and your story.
00:37:33.500 Obviously, I know who you are.
00:37:35.500 I know what you've done.
00:37:36.500 I know all that.
00:37:37.500 But I didn't know the deeper side of the story.
00:37:39.500 For you to open up and kind of share with the rest of us.
00:37:41.500 Yeah.
00:37:42.500 It's obvious why you are who you are right now.
00:37:44.500 It's an inspiration to a lot of people out there.
00:37:46.500 Well, I hope so.
00:37:47.500 And I hope, you know, that people really think that it doesn't, it wasn't always like that.
00:37:52.500 You know, there's always difficulty.
00:37:55.500 There's always somebody who's trying to put something in your rod, you know, put something
00:38:01.500 against you, make you feel bad.
00:38:03.500 But patience and tenacity are an important part.
00:38:08.500 Now, if you're lucky like me and you find your passion, then life is easy.
00:38:15.500 Then you don't have to go in the morning and say, oh, I have to go to work again.
00:38:19.500 You get up in the morning, like I went yesterday to the fish market.
00:38:23.500 Do I have to go to the fish market?
00:38:24.500 No.
00:38:25.500 But I love to.
00:38:26.500 I did that for years and years and years.
00:38:29.500 Like I went to the fish market, to the flower market.
00:38:31.500 I still love to be involved in it because food and the customers are really my passion.
00:38:38.500 And that's why customers like me keep coming back.
00:38:40.500 And we keep coming back because it's important that the man at the top is still in the game.
00:38:45.500 And you still love the game.
00:38:46.500 So Wolfgang Puck, thank you so much for your time.
00:38:48.500 So good to have you.
00:38:49.500 Thank you.
00:38:50.500 My pleasure.
00:38:51.500 Thanks everybody for listening.
00:38:52.500 And by the way, if you haven't already subscribed to Valuetainment on iTunes, please
00:38:55.500 do so.
00:38:56.500 Give us a five star.
00:38:57.500 Write a review if you haven't already.
00:38:59.500 And if you have any questions for me that you may have, you can always find me on Snapchat,
00:39:03.500 Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube.
00:39:05.500 Just search my name, Patrick David.
00:39:07.500 And I actually do respond back when you snap me or send me a message on Instagram.
00:39:11.500 With that being said, have a great day today.
00:39:13.500 Take care everybody.
00:39:14.500 Bye bye.
00:39:15.500 Bye bye.
00:39:16.500 Bye bye.