All that can be found in the Wolfgang Puck empire. He has more than 100 restaurants around the world. His culinary skills go beyond the kitchen. He has tv shows and an Online Cooking School. Wolfgang im sure you will enjoy it. Haslinda its time this high flyer to join us and give us his menu for success. Chef Wolfgang Puck, its such a pleasure to have you on board. Welcome to high flyers. Wolfgang i am so happy to be here. I am just going to look at you. Haslinda you are such a celebrated chef. It started when you were very young. Your mom, maria, had a great part to play. Wolfgang i grew up in a small village in austria. I think we had more cows than people in the village. My mother was a professional chef in a resort in the summertime. I used to visit her when school was out. I started to cook with a pastry chef mainly because i loved sweets i still do. But it really started with my mother. She was the most patient person and the nicest person. She was a very good cook. She could make something taste really delicious. Haslinda what was your first dish you cooked with your mom . Wolfgang the first dish was saturday morning, we used to make a cake, i used to love mixing the butter and the sugar with the exit eating half of it. That i always remember. We used to make wiener schnitzel, that is a veal cutlet. The smell of it, i used to love it. When i was a kid, i ate half of it. I will save the rest for tonight or for tomorrow. Haslinda it wasnt always sailing. Your dad was dead set against it. Wolfgang my dad was totally crazy. I should have fired him a long time ago. He said cooking was not a profession for a man, it was a profession for women. You should be a mason or a carpenter or anything like that. He told me i was good for nothing. When i left my little house and went to the train station, he said, you are good for nothing, you will be back in a month. Youre not going to make it as a cook. Haslinda you did try construction. Wolfgang i had to help them bring the bricks and do this and that. All of my friends were playing soccer. I had to work. I did not like that. Haslinda it almost never happened. When you were doing your apprenticeship in the kitchen, at about 14, you suddenly went out of potatoes. The almost cost you your job. And your life. Wolfgang in my life. It was a crazy thing. I told my father i would never come back. I will kill myself before i come back home. After one month, we ran out of potatoes during lunchtime on sunday. That was the big meal. The chef called me over and said, you are good for nothing. You will have to go back home to mother. I cannot go home. He just fired me. I went on the river, there was a big bridge. I said, im going to jump in the river. I am not going home. He doesnt want me. What else am i going to do . I am going to kill myself and jump in the river. After standing for an hour, i said, you know, maybe the chef was drunk. Maybe he didnt mean it. I am going to go back to next day. I went home and went to sleep. A friend saw me coming in. He said, i thought you got fired. I said, i cannot go home. He said, i will hide you in the vegetable cellar and you can peel potatoes. Back to potato peeling without cooking them . Two weeks later, the chef came down, and i was sitting down there peeling potatoes. He said, what are you doing here . And i said, i cannot go home. I will jump in the river before going home. The owner came down and the chef said, i dont know what to do with this little guy. I fired him, and he doesnt want to leave. The owner actually said, we have another hotel. He sent me to the other hotel. There was a lady chef over there. She had kids my age. She was nice to me. She looked that i ate breakfast in the morning and that i did my work and did not say anything. Then i started to move up. Haslinda your 100mile journey is quite something. You went from austria to paris. Wolfgang and then to america. Haslinda and then to the u. S. When was the turning point . Wolfgang i left austria for france when i was 17. I found out there were threestar restaurants. Naturally i looked and said, the restaurant i worked in only had one star. I said, i cannot go to austria before working in the threestar restaurant. I started writing all these fancy restaurants. The first one who accepted me said, you could start working in april, or something. So i went there. That was really an epiphany for me. It was something totally different. The owner was 72 years old, but he had such passion in the kitchen. He was amazing. He owned the threestar restaurant. He was the chef. Everything has to be the best quality. He had such intensity and passion. Haslinda that was the time when you learned to be a businessman. Your paycheck had bounced. In return, you asked for part of the business. Wolfgang exactly. I moved to los angeles. I was in a restaurant. And because they had one fancy investor named gene kelly, you know, the actor, i said, ok, i will work there. I did not know they were financially insolvent. When i got my first paycheck, the bank was two blocks away. I walked to the bank, gave them my paycheck to cash, the bank told me there is no money. I said, what do you mean there is no money . There is no money in the account. I went back and i said, what happened . There is no money. He gave me some cash and some more cash the next day. He said, maybe i will pay you a little less and you get part of the restaurant. I stayed there for six years. I took a restaurant that made 18,000 a month when i left six years later in 1981, it made 350,000 a month. Haslinda you set up your own restaurant. Wolfgang thats when i said, i want to be my own boss. Before leaving there, i said, i found this new restaurant. But we have to form a management company, and we own it together 5050. He said, no way. I always own 51 . I said, well, me too. So we had to split up. We got a very nasty divorce basically. Then i opened spago. Two years later, his restaurant closed, and spago became the big success. I wanted it to be a little neighborhood restaurant. We had all the old people going back. Elizabeth taylor, jimmy stewart, paul newman, all these people came to the restaurant. Some of them were very young like sean penn and madonna, michael jackson, so we had this mixture of people. Haslinda smoked salmon caviar pizza was the draw. Back then, when you came up with the idea, it wasnt on the menu. You had to send the pizza to them. Wolfgang spago was a lot of firsts. We had an open kitchen. I built the that way. That way i can see the customers and manage the restaurant at the same time. One day, when i served smoked salmon, normally we used brioche, then it came into my head, i will just cook the pizza dough with some onions. Because smoked salmon and onions go well together. And i will put some cream, some fresh dill, and shallots on top. Hot and cold goes well together. Soft and crispy goes well together. A glass of champagne with that would be perfect. Everybody tasted it. I sent it to all the people that i knew. They had never saw anything like that. Haslinda next on high flyers wolfgang we never hear about them. Haslinda so, chef, whatever you do a google on Wolfgang Puck, the first thing that comes up is celebrity chef. The term celebrity chef is not one you want. Wolfgang absolutely not. I want to be known as a chef. I work in my restaurants. We have a lot of famous people come to our restaurants. I am in the service business. I like to make customers happy. Celebrity chefs i dont know what it means. [laughter] haslinda it is the celebrity chef who has glamorized the cooking world. Wolfgang it is not be celebrity chefs, it is television mainly that has glamorized cooking. There are so many shows about cooking all over the world. It is crazy. When i look back 30 years ago when i founded spago, there were no cooking shows. I remember when the footnote work in america started, they had a Little Office and the food network in america started, they had a Little Office and two hot plates. There was not much cooking. Every channel everywhere you have cooking shows. Haslinda you are competing with the big names in the industry like Gordon Ramsay. What does it take to be on top and stay on top . You are one of the most celebrated chefs in the u. S. Wolfgang who is Gordon Ramsay . [laughter] wolfgang we have never heard about him. I think its really nice. We can compete against the supermarkets. Its up to us to get a good reputation and get the best wordofmouth. Haslinda its easy to have control over your restaurants if you have one, two, or even three restaurants, but you have over 100 restaurants. How much of Wolfgang Puck is in each and every one of them . Wolfgang we really have our own talent pool. We dont open a restaurant and that i have to go to Gordon Ramsay and ask him for a chef. We have our homegrown chefs and managers. Thats what makes the big difference. They know our culture. Thats not to say the other people dont have great restaurants, but every culture is a little bit different. What makes us successful might not be the same dna that makes somebody else successful. We could open 10 restaurants a year. We have so many people who want us to be all over the place. I decided we only open restaurants if i know the chef or the pastry chef and the manager. Haslinda you have hosted the oscars dinner more than 20 times. Is the latest one any different than the one you did before . Wolfgang the oscars are always very exciting. It is probably the Biggest Party in america, in hollywood for sure. So everybody comes there. The fashion world is there. The music world is there. Everybody celebrates the oscars. Everybody celebrates the movie. We do a big oscar dinner every year. It is just as exciting as the first time we did it. The only difference is now i know what to expect. The first time, i was not sure, but now we know what to expect. We prepare for everything. Haslinda is it as exciting as it as haslinda is it as exciting as it was before serving the chocolate statuettes to the celebrities . Wolfgang we have a little bit of homecooked comfort food. We also have innovation. Barbra streisand comes and she always wants our Chicken Pot Pie with truffles. We make it every year. We do it for so many years, i know most of the customers really well. Its really easy. Haslinda Leonardo Dicaprio was nominated. Did you have in mind it he would win and you would serve him a separate dish . Wolfgang i dont really do it. I dont know if they are going to win. I think its an interesting thing. I made a giant king crab from alaska, but i cut it up in small pieces. I given an asian, almost singapore flavor. Haslinda do you have to cater to all the differences . Wolfgang you know we are going to have some vegetarians. We have eight chefs to do special things. We are ready for everything. If you want singapore noodles, we will make them for you. Nothing is set. Haslinda if someone wants a specific cut of meat . Wolfgang we are ready. Martin scorsese had dinner and then he said, im still a little bit hungry. Can you make me a little pasta . I told the chef make us a tomato basil pasta. We ate pasta at 1 00 in the morning. He said, this is perfect. Haslinda there is one person you would like to cook for. That would be the pope. Wolfgang i was born catholic. I cooked for everybody from the queen of england to all of the movie people to the president s. I never cooked for the pope. That would be a challenge. Haslinda pope, if you were watching. What would the dish be . Wolfgang i think the pope is a very simple person. I would not make up something with truffles and caviar. I would make something my mother would make for me when i was a child. We have austrian ravioli. I notice from argentina, they like pasta, i know he is from argentina, they like pasta, we make it with potatoes and cheese and a little mint. I think he would like that. Haslinda coming up wolfgang i said, johnny, what you going to do with the pizza . Im going to put them in the freezer. Im not going to give them to you anymore if you treat them like that. Haslinda chef Wolfgang Puck, you have six cookbooks to your name. The latest one is slightly different. It comes with recipes but also exercise tips. Why is it different . Wolfgang i did the cook book because cooking is only part of our life. Its important to cook healthy food, good food. Not to use all of the storebought stuff that is full of salt and sugar and preservatives. I want people to eat really good food and exercise. When i started to exercise, i started to feel so much better. Its not about being skinny, but eating in shape. Haslinda its about your fitness journey. Wolfgang exactly. I have two young children. I have to play tennis with them. I want to go skiing with them. I want to stay in shape until im 85 or 90. Haslinda one of them would not get out of bed until you say i am going to cook eggs. Wolfgang i have two sons who are really into cooking. Bryon right now is that cornell, and then i have oliver, who is only 10 years old. He loves to cook. If he doesnt want to get up, he loves scrambled eggs with toast and a little marmalade. If he doesnt want to get up in the morning, i tell them i will cook the eggs myself without you. He jumps out of bed and says, no, no, papa, wait for me. I am coming. He cracks the eggs and beats them. Then he cooks them slowly and makes scrambled eggs. He doesnt like school lunch. I have to make panini for him, but he always cooks it. He puts it on the grill and does it. Haslinda you have said that you are a businessman and you are on the verge of launching an Online Cooking School. Why . Why do you think that will work . Wolfgang we dont know. We do not know if it will work out. Thats why its exciting. I founded the Online Cooking School because you see the young people today, they do everything online. They play online. They have games online. I talked to my son, why not start to cook book online where i do every recipe from az . Let me show you how to make the perfect fried egg. Im going to show you how to do it the easy way. You can see me in the kitchen. You can slow it down or speed up. I show you how to do each recipe. Its much easier to understand than reading it in the book. You can see it. You can print out your shopping list. I did it myself, every recipe. In the spring, i will add some barbecue recipes. I dont have to write another book. I just add to it. In a few years, we are going to have an Amazing Library of recipes. I know people will go to the website and they can cook just like me. Haslinda innovation is something that you really believe in. Why . Why is it important have innovative cooking . Have a test kitchen . Wolfgang when i started spago, i looked at what is out there. I want to be like armani. I did dinner for a fashion show. He not only has upscale couture clothing, but he has licensing, he has all of those different things. Its a complex business. Maybe i can base my restaurant concept on that, too. Then we started to have middle of the road restaurants and not too expensive still very good. Restaurants in the airport. Then i started to make frozen pizza and soup in the supermarket. Also, we have appliances that we sell on hsn and in different stores. Haslinda lets talk about the frozen pizza. You have someone to credit for that idea. Johnny carson was a regular at your restaurant. He would buy 10, 20 boxes of pizza. You wondered what he was doing with them. Wolfgang john used to come to our restaurant all the time. He had his new girlfriend at the time. He took home 10 pieces one night, and i said, what you doing with the pizzas . Are you having another party . He said, i put them in the freezer. You put them in the freezer . I am not going to give you pizzas anymore if you treat them like that. He said, they are just as good as the ones you make here. I said, that cant be possible. I tried them. I said, its a little dry. The next one i cooked less and less. Then i baked them in home and said, maybe hes right. A supermarket called gelsons came to me. I know bernie gelson very well. He said, you know, maybe you should sell some of your restaurants in the store. I said, lets start with the pizzas. Haslinda you are ok with putting your name on a lot of different things. Not just frozen pizza but also appliances, utensils. Some people think that is selling out. Is it . Wolfgang you know, i really want to help people be better at home in cooking. I dont sell sheets for the bad or things for the bathroom. I sell Everything Possible you could use in the kitchen. If you have a better blender or if you have expensive pots and pans, which help you to be a better cook, i dont think thats selling out. I am really here to empower people to be better cooks at home. Haslinda chef Wolfgang Puck, you are pushing 66 or 67. Wolfgang only. Haslinda only. You work six days a week and you travel at least 100 days a year. That is some aggressive are you planning to slow down . Wolfgang i am not planning to slow down. You know, like i love to come here to singapore. We just opened a spago here. We always have new projects. As long as i enjoy it, and as long as i have passion doing things i love to do, why stop . Haslinda what is your legacy . Wolfgang if one day i get a tombstone, and somebody writes on it he was a good father and husband, that would be it. Haslinda thank you so much for being on high flyers. Wolfgang its good to be here. Good to be here on high flyers. I did not even get height sick. [laughter] announcer brilliant ideas, powered by hyundai motors. Idea, ideas the boldness of her work is inclusive. It is bold. It is kind of ugly. It is exhilarating or inspiring and also slightly terrifying at the same time. It looks so badly made, but it actually isnt