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About Wolfgang Puck
Wolfgang Puck represents the ultimate in the culinary arts and restaurant hospitality. His name also refers to the gastronomic empire the famous chef has built since the early 1980s, the group of fine dining restaurants developed in partnership with Barbara Lazaroff, Tom Kaplan, Lee Hefter, David Robins and Joe Essa through which he first rose to prominence.
It also includes his extensive catering and events business with partner Carl Schuster, which garners international attention through its annual Governors Ball following the Academy Awards®. Wolfgang Puck Worldwide, Inc. represents the Wolfgang Puck brand in quick casual Express restaurants; consumer products including packaged foods, beverages and cookware; book publishing; television, radio and internet programming; and other franchising, licensing, and merchandising.
From Austria to America
The Austrian-born Puck began his formal training at age 14, inspired by his mother, Maria, a hotel chef. Encouraged by a friend, Wolfgang - whose first name alone identifies him across America - left Europe in 1973 at the age of 24, having already learned his craft as a classically trained French chef in the master kitchens of three-star French restaurants, the Hotel de Paris in Monaco, Maxim's in Paris and L'Oustau de Baumanière in Provence. His first stop in the United States was as chef at the restaurant La Tour in Indianapolis.
Puck made the move to Los Angeles two years later, in 1975, and became both chef and part owner of Ma Maison, which quickly became a magnet for the rich and famous, with Puck the starring attraction. Fame and acclaim quickly followed - a combination of a dynamic personality and a culinary brilliance that bridged tradition and invention. Wolfgang has changed the way Americans cook and eat by mixing formal French techniques and Asian- and California-influenced esthetics with the highest quality ingredients.
He has also changed the face of dining in cities throughout the nation, first in Los Angeles and more recently in Las Vegas, where he was the first star chef to create a contemporary fine dining restaurant, thereby leading the way for other celebrated chefs and the city's metamorphosis into a food haven.
Spago is Born
After the 1981 publication of his first cookbook, Modern French Cooking for the American Kitchen, based on his popular recipes at Ma Maison, Spago, located in West Hollywood on the Sunset Strip, was an instant success and culinary phenomenon from its opening day in 1982. His first signature dishes - such as "gourmet" pizzas topped with smoked salmon and caviar and Sonoma baby lamb with braised greens and rosemary - put him and Spago on the Los Angeles foodie map. Over its popular eighteen years, the original location of Spago earned many accolades, including the prestigious Restaurant of the Year award by the James Beard Foundation in 1994.
Over a span of twenty years, an empire of Wolfgang Puck dining establishments has opened, including 12 fine dining restaurants in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Palo Alto and Maui and 51 casual dining and quick service restaurants in nationwide urban centers, airports and supermarkets.
Following the success of Spago, Chinois on Main opened in 1983 in Santa Monica. Puck's early exposure to Southern California's multi-cultural population intrigued him and inspired his interest in bringing the flavors and products of Koreatown, Chinatown, Thai-town, and other ethnicities into the mainstream flavors of a fine dining restaurant. He experimented with a fresh and complex menu creating an imaginative Asian-fusion cuisine.
Puck expanded into retailing with the release of his first instructional video, Spago Cooking with Wolfgang Puck, in 1986. His second cookbook, The Wolfgang Puck Cookbook, featuring recipes from Spago and Chinois on Main, was published the same year. When many of Puck's customers expressed a desire to enjoy Spago-quality food at home, he launched his first line of frozen food in 1987, offering frozen desserts and quickly expanding into the manufacture of frozen pizzas and entrees.
Early Steps in Expansion
Wolfgang's third restaurant and concept, Postrio, located in the Prescott Hotel off San Francisco's Union Square, opened in 1989. Inspired by the city's multicultural influences, after over sixteen years Postrio continues to draw rave reviews in the highly competitive culinary market of San Francisco, including those from the San Francisco Examiner and Gourmet magazine. Granita, located in Malibu, opened in 1991, inspired by the colors and flavors of the Mediterranean, and mixing Wolfgang's interpretive classics from the south of France and Italy using local California ingredients.
Also in 1991, Wolfgang was presented with the James Beard Foundation's award for Outstanding Chef of the year. With the publication of his comprehensive fourth cookbook, Adventures in the Kitchen with Wolfgang Puck, and four fine dining concepts firmly established, Puck further broke ground with a new venture, the Wolfgang Puck Express, in Macy's Cellar, located in San Francisco's Union Square. The debut of this prototype innovatively merged quick service with some of Wolfgang's classic dishes - pastas, pizzas and salads - to win new mainstream audiences. Incorporating the best ingredients available and made-to-order preparations, this concept presaged by ten years today's booming quick casual restaurant industry development and formed the basis for later Express franchising activities.
Pioneering Las Vegas Fine Dining
Spago Las Vegas launched in 1992 within the Forum Shops at Caesars. Together with Executive Chef David Robins, Puck transformed the culinary scene in the desert city, pioneering fine dining and paving the way for other celebrity chefs¿including Emeril Lagasse , Nobu Matsuhisa, Thomas Keller, and Daniel Boulud¿to open signature restaurants.
The Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining group gained a dominant position in the Las Vegas market with the opening of Chinois Las Vegas in 1998 inside the Forum Shops at Caesars, followed by the opening of Postrio in the Venetian Hotel. Trattoria del Lupo, opened at the Mandalay Bay Resort in 1999 and the Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill opened in 2004 at the MGM Grand.
Casual Dining with Spago Styling
In 1993 Puck entered the casual dining arena with the opening of the Wolfgang Puck Cafes, a full-service casual dining concept. In 1994, the new Cafes garnered the Hot Concept award from Nation's Restaurant News, and in 1997, the Wolfgang Puck Grand Cafe in Orlando, Florida opened, located within Downtown Disney.
Casual dining has further evolved into the Wolfgang Puck Express, a "quick-casual" concept in one of the newest and fastest growing segments of the restaurant industry, offering sophisticated fare with informal service. The Wolfgang Puck Express makes extensive use of vibrant and inviting colors in its décor and offers sophisticated fare in a quick service format. The emphasis is on freshness and high-quality ingredients, with the casual and inexpensive menu featuring Wolfgang's signature pizzas, fresh salads, innovative sandwiches, rotisserie chicken, and more.
Spago Beverly Hills Blazes New Ground
In 1997, Spago Beverly Hills opened amidst one of the most celebrated and exclusive retail areas in the world. Puck's menu blazes new ground in the flagship restaurant's continuing cutting-edge role as a creative force in California cuisine, with a combination of updated Spago classics and newly conceived items. The seasonal menu also draws from Austrian-inspired recipes from Wolfgang's childhood and the wide variety of ever-changing dishes created by the award-winning talents of executive chef Lee Hefter and executive pastry chef Sherry Yard.
Major Growth and Diversity
Other Spago restaurants followed: Spago Tokyo in 1992, and Spago Palo Alto in 1997. With the opening of Spago at the Four Seasons Resort Maui in 2001, the Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group moved into a unique partnership with the world's premier hotel group, the Four Seasons. The Group is planning a second restaurant with the Four Seasons, a contemporary steakhouse in the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel (a Four Seasons Hotel), in Beverly Hills. The restaurant, designed by internationally renowned architect Richard Meier and his partner Michael Palladino, opens in early 2006. The group is also developing a new American restaurant, designed by Tony Chi, that is scheduled to open at Borgata Casino Resort & Spa in Atlantic City in 2006.
In 1995, Wolfgang created a partnership with WP Productions, Inc. for the manufacture and marketing of cookware and other cooking oriented consumer products. This resulted in a Wolfgang Puck® cookware line being sold on Home Shopping Network, in retail outlets, and later through online retailers as well. Wolfgang published his fourth cookbook, Pizza, Pasta and More! in 2000, the same year in which Spago Beverly Hills was named Best Restaurant by Food & Wine magazine. Later that year, in partnership with the Food Network and Weller/Grossman Productions, Wolfgang developed his own television show, Wolfgang Puck, which began airing in January 2001, and was awarded a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Service Show in 1994. The series Wolfgang Puck's Cooking Class, debuted in fall 2003 presenting Wolfgang in a format of up-close cooking lessons that capture the experience of a private kitchen master class.
Catering Develops in Los Angeles and Expands Nationally
Wolfgang Puck Catering (WPC), formed in May 1998, moved to its permanent home in the new Hollywood & Highland® entertainment complex in November 2001. The 25,000-square-foot Grand Ballroom sets the standard in special event entertaining in Los Angeles. It is also residence to the Academy Awards® annual Governors Ball, where Puck has been honored for the past eleven years as official Chef for the post-awards celebrity banquet. The Hollywood & Highland® location is also the site for Vert, the popular Wolfgang Puck Brasserie that opened in February 2002. In addition to the success of its off-site catering, WPC is also responsible for the catering services at the Natural History Museum, the Page Museum, Staples Center, Home Depot Center, Kidspace Museum and several premier art galleries in Los Angeles.
In seven years, Wolfgang Puck Catering has grown to a national position, carefully selecting the best locations and business partnerships. The company handles much of Chicago's most impressive catering, including Puck's at the Museum of Contemporary Art, the University of Chicago's Gleacher Center, and the Field Museum. Other national venues include operations at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and Benaroya Hall in Seattle. Its St. Louis center handles catering for the St. Louis Science Center, the St. Louis Art Museum and the St. Louis Contemporary Art Museum, the City Museum and Pageant. In Boston at the Museum of Science, WPC has a full scale catering services. Excusive Caterer at the Indianapolis Museum of Art and Puck's restaurant. Additionally, at Minneapolis' critically acclaimed Walker Art Center exclusive caterer and fine dining restaurant 20.21. Plans are currently underway for catering centers in Atlanta, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.
Wolfgang Puck Worldwide, Inc. Manages Global Brand Strategy
In May 2000, Wolfgang Puck Worldwide, Inc. (WPW) was established to manage global brand strategy across Wolfgang Puck's business activities in consumer packaged foods, cooking products, media content, and additional licensing and product opportunities planned as part of the Wolfgang Puck global expansion. Also that year, WPW announced a global partnership with ConAgra, the nation's second largest food company. Wolfgang's fifth book, Live, Love, Eat! The Best of Wolfgang Puck was published in October 2002 and a new cookbook, Wolfgang Puck Makes It Easy published in 2004. In March 2003, Tribune Media Services launched a weekly syndicated newspaper column, Wolfgang Puck's Kitchen, in which he shares expert tips and easy home recipes. The column is seen in 18 publications throughout the United States and Canada with a circulation of over 1.5 million readers.
Wolfgang is also seen regularly on ABC's Good Morning America, sharing his latest creations on this popular morning show. He has also appeared on a multitude of television shows including The Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Entertainment Tonight, E! Entertainment Television, Hollywood Squares, Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, Frasier, The Simpsons, The History Channel, Wheel of Fortune and What's My Line. In 2001, the A&E Network featured the life of Wolfgang Puck on their popular Biography series.
Community Relationships
Wolfgang is actively involved in many philanthropic endeavors and charitable organizations, including his own Puck-Lazaroff Charitable Foundation. Each year since 1983, the foundation hosts the annual American Wine & Food Festival, which has benefited Meals-on-Wheels and has raised over $5 million over the past two decades. The Harvard Business School of Southern California presented additional funds to Meals-on-Wheels when they presented Wolfgang with their honored Business Statesman of the Year award in 2001. Wolfgang is also a major supporter of the American Cancer Society, the Alzheimer's Association, the Animal Foundation, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Los Angeles & Nevada, the Boys and Girls Club of America, the American Heart Association, Steppenwolf Theater, the Lytton Gardens, the Field Museum of Natural History, the Gateway Green, the Special Olympics, the Cystic Fibrosis Society, the Race to Erase MS, the Carousel of Hope Ball for the Children's Diabetes Foundation, the Fire and Ice Ball for Revlon/UCLA Women's Cancer Research Program, and Mazon.
In addition to the many humanitarian awards, including Humanitarian of the Year from The James Beard Foundation in 1994, Wolfgang was proud to receive an honorary degree of Doctor of Culinary Arts from Johnson & Wales University, Providence, RI in 1998.
Wolfgang lives in Beverly Hills and has two sons, Cameron and Byron.
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