Wolfgang Puck's Net Worth In 2024 and How the Oscars Chef Made It Big
Wolfgang Puck attends the Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on March 12, 2023.
Wolfgang Puck's net worth in 2024 is proof he can cook up quite a bit of success.
The Austrian-born chef is celebrating his 30th year as the Oscars' Governors Ball chef, leading him to reflect on his culinary career as a whole.
"It's a great thing to do it for 30 years," he marveled to ABC 7. "When I look back at my life, my career, I said, 'You know, longevity is really the most important thing.' Why? Because a lot of restaurants come and go, but very few stay on."
Puck previously told Parade that success in the restaurant business isn't easy.
"A good chef has to be a manager, a businessman and a great cook," he said. "To marry all three together is sometimes difficult."
While he and his team mix up the menu each year, he always serves the crowd-favorite chicken pot pie for Hollywood's biggest night—and in 2024, there will also be 5,000 chocolate Oscars dusted with gold.
While you root for Barbie from your couch, find out Wolfgang Puck's net worth and how he made it.
Related: How to Make Wolfgang Puck's Signature Oscars Dish
How did Wolfgang Puck become famous?
Wolfgang Puck was born in Austria and began cooking as a child under the tutelage of his mother, who was a chef. He began formal training when he was just 14 years old, working in some of France's best eateries.
Puck moved to the United States when he was 24, first working in Indianapolis for two years before heading to Los Angeles, where he worked as a chef at Ma Maison. He published his first cookbook, Modern French Cooking for the American Kitchen, in 1980. In 1982, he opened his first restaurant in Los Angeles, Spago, in West Hollywood. (After 18 years, he moved Spago to Beverly Hills, where it remains a celebrity staple.)
Puck opened his Asian fusion restaurant, Chinois on Main, in Santa Monica, Calif., in 1983. He became a syndicated recipe columnist through Tribune Content Agency in 2003 and opened CUT, a high-end contemporary steakhouse, at the Four Seasons Beverly Wilshire, three years later.
Puck's restaurants, some simply named Wolfgang Puck's Kitchen, have expanded and thrived worldwide.
Throughout it all—seven cookbooks, more than 20 eateries—he's also maintained his own celebrity. In addition to appearances on Food Network and a 2021 documentary about Puck, he's also appeared in some seemingly unlikely places, including in episodes of Who's the Boss?, CSI, Tales From the Crypt and, more fittingly, Frasier.
That said, don't mention the phrase "celebrity chef" to him.
"I hate the word 'celebrity chef,'" he lamented to WIRED. "You know what? When people call me that, I say, 'No! I am a cook, I am a chef, I am a restaurateur. I am not a celebrity!"
Fair enough, but he's also the celebrity-favorite chef who's catered the Oscars' Governors Ball for three decades!
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What is Wolfgang Puck's net worth in 2024?
Wolfgang Puck's net worth in 2024 is estimated at a cool and scrumptious $120 million.
How many restaurants does Wolfgang Puck own?
As of this writing in March 2024, Puck owns 23 restaurants worldwide. He previously owned another nine eateries.
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How many Michelin stars does Wolfgang Puck have?
Puck's restaurants have a combined three Michelin stars so far: Spago has two, while CUT earned one Michelin star within a year of its opening. That said, he doesn't put a ton of stock into Michelin stars, in part because he likes being able to experiment and have fun with his dishes.
"A lot of two-star restaurants are really inventive and have really great food," he told WIRED. "Now a three-star restaurant, everything has to be perfect — the food, the service, the wine cellar, the glassware, the plates ... If you go to a three-star restaurant, it has a certain look, a certain style. With two-star, you don't have to be as fancy."
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Who is the owner of Wolfgang Puck?
This may surprise you, but it's Wolfgang Puck.
What companies does Wolfgang Puck own?
Puck is the owner of Wolfgang Puck Companies, which houses three separate holdings: Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group (restaurants), Wolfgang Puck Catering (self-explanatory) and Wolfgang Puck Worldwide, Inc. (branding and media).
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What is Wolfgang Puck's signature dish?
Puck's signature dish is pizza topped with dill crème fra?che, house-smoked salmon and caviar. You can taste it at Spago!
Does Wolfgang Puck still own Spago?
More than four decades later, Puck still owns Spago, and it's still going strong.
Next, 20 Best Online Cooking Classes To Make You a Master Chef at Home
