This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Wolfgang Puck, a 76-year-old chef based in Los Angeles. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I’ve spent more than 60 years building my restaurant business after coming to the US from Europe and opening Spago in West Hollywood in 1982.
I oversee more than 100 fine dining and casual eateries around the world, from Beverly Hills and Las Vegas to London, Singapore, Istanbul, and Shanghai.
Even now, as we work on new projects in places like Abu Dhabi and Malibu, I still spend most nights in my restaurants — tasting food, talking to guests, and paying attention to the smallest details.
Here’s a day in my life.
I wake up around 6:30 a.m. each morning
Beyond my wakeup time, no two weeks really look the same. One week, I’m home in LA every day. The next week, I’m flying to New York, London, Istanbul, Budapest, Singapore, or Shanghai.
No matter where I am, though, my mornings usually start with a double espresso.
Then I go for a 45-minute to hourlong walk. If I’m home in LA, my two dogs come with me. After that, I work out with weights, stretching, and the elliptical.
For years, my mornings also included driving my younger children to school. One of my sons started listening to the same music I love — Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, all the old rock bands — and those drives became one of my favorite parts of the day. I miss them now.
I have a light breakfast around 8:30 a.m.
Right now, we have great fruit in LA — peaches, nectarines, cherries, blueberries, and strawberries.
I also love yogurt with olive oil, salt, and pepper with toasted whole-grain or seeded bread from Spago. Sometimes I’ll make avocado toast with jalapeño, mustard, and an egg sautéed in olive oil.
Another important part of my mornings is reading the newspaper. I get printed versions of The New York Times, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and California Post, and I flip through the pages and read the opinion sections with my coffee.
I usually head to my office at the Pacific Design Center around 10 a.m.
Sometimes I stop at the farmers market in Santa Monica or the fish market first because I still enjoy seeing ingredients in person. I always tell my chefs that if I can still go to the fish market, they can, too.
At the office, I spend time reviewing financials. It’s not the most exciting part of the restaurant business for me, so I’m having Byron, my son who works with me, handle more of the financial calls these days.
When I made Byron president of the company in June 2025, I knew some people around me probably imagined they might get that role themselves because many of them had worked with me for decades. Over time, though, people saw how seriously he took the work. He works from morning until night, listens well, leads by example, and holds people accountable.
I’ve learned that if you want great people to stay, you have to share your success with them. I’ve given longtime chefs and partners stakes in restaurants because I want them to feel ownership, too. To me, we’re building something together, not working for one person.
I eat a simple lunch from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
Sometimes Byron and I eat together at the office — maybe a sandwich or soup — but I generally eat more in the evening.
I also keep a big bag of Valrhona 80% dark chocolate in my office that gets me through the workday — and coffee, naturally.
My afternoons are usually full of phone calls. I talk with chefs and managers from restaurants around the world about menus, staffing, food quality, and new ideas. I don’t enjoy emails very much. I like talking to people directly. I think you understand people better that way.
I finish work at the office by 4 p.m. and visit the restaurants to see what’s going on
What frustrates me most is when people stop paying attention to details. In restaurants, the smallest things matter.
I get frustrated when things don’t get done properly because it often comes down to laziness. I can’t stand when chefs don’t taste the food before serving it.
I always tell my teams that you have to taste everything. If you don’t taste the pasta before it leaves the kitchen, how do you know if it has enough or too much salt?
I still spend most nights in restaurants
When the kids were younger, we used to have dinner together around 6 p.m., before I headed out to my restaurants. Now, I’ll spend an hour or two at home with my wife, Gelila, before stopping by CUT or Spago later in the evening.
Even after 60 years in restaurants, I still love being there at night. The restaurants give me energy. I’ll check in with chefs, talk with guests, and sometimes sit down with friends or Byron for a glass of wine and a few small dishes the chefs prepare for us.
Most nights, I’m out until 11 or 11:30 p.m., and then I head home
Travel is constant. Recently, I traveled to Las Vegas, New York, Washington, and Beverly Hills for a series of dinners with Byron alongside Austrian winemakers.
At night, if I’m not tired yet, I’ll read before bed and take a melatonin spray. I mostly read nonfiction and biographies because I want to understand what makes people do what they do. It could be books about Elon Musk, Mick Jagger, Abraham Lincoln, or famous French chefs. I’m always curious about how successful people think, build things, and lead others.
I go to sleep around 1 a.m.
Family became more important as I got older
When I was younger, I could spend every night in a restaurant and think only about work. Over time, I realized balance matters much more. I watched people in the restaurant business lose relationships with their families because they never made time for anything outside work.
I still spend plenty of time in restaurants, but I also make time for my family. Every summer, I try to take at least one month off to travel through Europe with them.
Recently, I also started taking painting lessons because I enjoy the creative process and the focus it requires. I never really think about retirement because I never wake up thinking, “I have to go to work.”
Being optimistic helps. I’ve always been an optimist. Even now, when people ask me why I’m still opening restaurants or taking risks in my 70s, I don’t spend much time thinking about the downside. New projects and new ideas are what keep me excited.
The Japanese have a word called Kaizen, which means continuous improvement. If you think you’ve already arrived, then you stop growing. I still want to learn new things and hopefully open more restaurants for many more years.
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