Wolfgang Puck Talks Reopening Restaurants Post-Pandemic

There are few people who have a better read of the food industry than celebrity and Michelin-starred chef Wolfgang Puck. Since founding his flagship restaurant Spago in 1982, his business has grown from a single location to one that encompasses several dozen fine dining establishments around the world and a number of catering outposts in major U.S. cities, as well as branded products ranging from cookware to coffee. As many restaurateurs, the pandemic posed a challenge for Puck's businesses unlike anything he has experienced before, including the 2008 financial crisis. When the pandemic began, Puck said he was hopeful the spread of Covid-19 would largely be under control by May. Instead, it continued for months and Spago's Beverly Hills location was closed as a result. And in order to keep workers employed, Spago started receiving takeout orders—but doing so came at a price. “I have never lost that much money in two months in a restaurant. We lost $380,000,” he said, speaking specifically of the time period following Thanksgiving. “Thank God we have a good friendship with the bank, so they helped us along. And then later on some [Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)] money came in to help us.” Puck said he also spent $450,000 to ensure the safety of his customers, such as on air filtration. Like many fine dining establishments, Spago's Beverly Hills location suffered during the pandemic. As a result of this experience, the renowned chef noted that there's an opportunity for restaurants to look beyond the pandemic and permanently institute some of the lessons learned about health and safety. "We know now, especially after Covid ... we have to look to get clean air, we get have to look to have the right appliances, we have to look at every little thing where we can improve," Puck said. "Now we can actually implement a lot of these things into our daily operation, because the well-being of the employees, the well-being of our guests, is our primary concern." Marketing a new safety standard Puck notably joined entertainers such as Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Michael B. Jordan, Robert DeNiro, Venus Williams and Deepak Chopra earlier this year to promote a new third-party certification for restaurant safety called the Well Health-Safety Rating. The accompanying ad campaign, directed by Spike Lee, aims to raise awareness about the verification program, which is sponsored by public benefit corporation International Well Building Institute. The idea is to grade businesses on areas such as sanitization, water management and emergency preparedness. Those that meet enough of the health criteria are then awarded a Well Health-Safety seal. The hope is that consumers will be more willing to patronize businesses where they see the seal posted. "The point of the Well Health-Safety rating ... is [to provide] a consistent element of messaging with regards to third-party verification, of consensus-driven health and safety protocols," Paul Scialla, founder of the International Well Building Institute and CEO of parent company Delos, said. "There is, I'm sure, a lot of pent-up demand." Scialla added that if that demand is married with third-party verification of operational protocols, it will result in a big rebound. Challenges remain For now, the most difficult challenge for restaurants is finding employees. "It's impossible to find people no matter what you pay," Puck said. He claimed that in some cases, chefs are generating enough income from unemployment benefits—which are supported by the state and federal government—and from private cooking for families, so the prospect of returning to work full time is not compelling. However, he thinks that by August, people might will be willing to return to work. "I'm just struggling finding people, you know, so that's really difficult," he said. While it continues to be a difficult period for casual dining establishments, Puck is happy to be able to reopen his restaurants again. And he noted his Las Vegas operations are experiencing strong business on the weekends, although weekdays remain slow. “You know what is great, though, the people who go out, they appreciate restaurants more now than they ever did," Puck said. "Takeout is good, cooking at home is good. But there's nothing like going to a restaurant getting served, being able to choose from the menu."