EP 15: Lee Anne Wong

Transcript

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Welcome to Hospitality On The Rise, the podcast about the people shaping the hospitality industry and their journeys. I'm your host, Alice Cheng, founder and CEO of Culinary Agents, hospitality's go-to hiring platform. And I'm here to give you your dose of virtual mentorship.

Here, we'll be sharing the stories, lessons learned, and advice from hospitality leaders who've carved out their own path to success. After all, this industry is where many get their start and go on to do incredible things.

Whether you're a pro, starting out, or just love the hustle, this podcast highlights what makes hospitality extraordinary, the people.

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

We're so excited to have Lee Anne Wong with us today. Lee Anne is the Chef Owner of Koko Head Cafe in Oahu, Tokyo and Osaka. Amongst many things, Lee Anne is a regular, I would say, on the circuit of television, food-related television. But she's also had quite the career and we're so excited to hear more about it. So Lee Anne, welcome.

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

Hi, aloha, good morning.

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Thank you so much for joining us in your busy morning here, including the time difference. Appreciate it. So I want to know how did it all begin? How did you get started in this industry?

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

I've been working in restaurants since I was 15. My first job was working in a small cafe in my hometown. I did front of the house for many, many years. After high school I moved down to New York City. I attended Fashion Institute of Technology where I studied fashion design. 

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

I went there too.

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG 

I bartended and served at Dojo in the West Village down on 4th and Mercer. I was always in the restaurant industry, per se. I think probably maybe two and a half years into college, I got really bored with what I was doing. I was living in Times Square, and I had this 13 inch box TV that sat on the floor. I was sleeping on a futon mattress on the floor. Real living.

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG 

As you do in Manhattan. That's the dream right there.

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

Yeah, living in Times Square in a 200 square foot apartment. And I got basic cable and basically Food Network by some miracle. So I started obsessively watching Food Network and cooking for my friends. And they were like, “You should go to culinary school. You should become a chef.” So I told my parents. They weren't thrilled, which is interesting because my mom, she's a wonderful self-taught cook. You know, she immigrated from the Philippines in her twenties and taught herself how to cook. I would come home, and she'd have Julia Child and Martin Yan on the TV and Jacques Pepin and ironically enough years later I would go on to work side by side with these culinary giants.

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

And she probably changed her tune a little bit, right?

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

She's still a Chinese mom. She still gives me a hard time. 

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Oh, understood. No further explanation needed.

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

No, she's proud of me. She's proud of me. 30 years later, she's proud of me. It's just been this crazy journey. And so I kind of dropped everything. I started going to French Culinary Institute. I took the evening program. And then I started working at Aquavit during the daytime. So I gave up my bartending job for an $8 an hour job. And yeah, I worked my way up and spent two and a half years at Aquavit. I opened up 66 with Jean-Georges, his Chinese restaurant in Tribeca. I did a very, very short stint as a private chef, figured out that I don't ever want to do that. Again, it’s different. I think that's what's interesting is that within my career, I've been able to do so many different things, not just cooking a restaurant.

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Yeah, well, I mean, you do different things and you determine what works for you, what you want and what doesn't work for you.

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

Well but I think it's also what we've seen in the past 20 years is really an explosion of how restaurants operate, how our industry operates, and the different opportunities it can provide. Technology plays a huge part in that. And you don't have to just take the standard of going to culinary school, go work in a restaurant, open up your own business. There's so many other things you can do, from culinary literature to food styling to recipe development, consulting, entrepreneurship, consumer packaged goods. There's a billion things you could do, not just go into a restaurant. Although I do recommend everybody does at least a year in a restaurant. So you get the full breadth of our industry.

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG 

Exactly. Round out that experience. And that's that's the beauty of-– I mean, you yourself, you started in the front of house and you went to back of house. Some people go the opposite direction. There's so many things as long as you have the foundation, it kind of opens up all these possibilities and your network as well, who you meet along the way, who inspires you, who you work for, etc. So that's a great example there.

I was going through some some notes here, and I see you were a Top Chef contestant season one. Which is awesome. I mean, how did you even— you know, when you see something that's gone on for so many seasons, and I think they just launched the new season last night if I'm not mistaken, and I know this isn't going to air real time–early March here–and to see something like that you also participated in on the director consulting side after. How did you get into that?

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

So at the time when I was cast on the show, I was the Executive Chef of Event Operations and Continuing Education at The French Culinary Institute. So a lot of what I did was produce chef demos all day and produce these crazy classes and did all this custom events and stuff like that.

So after season one, at the time that Top Chef came out–we filmed that back in 2005–I think it came out right around the same time Hell's Kitchen came out. And Hell's Kitchen was a completely in-studio show, right? Top Chef was different because it followed that format that the magical elves had had success with on Project Runway, which was taking us out into the field on the second half of every episode. So we'd have the quick fire in-house, then we'd go out and do a challenge out in the field.

Like those first years were very much like, I always tell people it's like walking barefoot uphill in the snow to school, right? That's like what we did. We didn't have any fancy water sponsors, BMW sponsors, none of that. We were held outside in a production Dodge Caravan for like two hours while cameras set up for our entrance, which was like a five second shot, right? So we were the guinea pigs. 

Subsequently after, they hired me as a consultant for season two because really there weren't culinary producers out there who had knowledge of a show and how that worked. A lot of the culinary producers were doing dump and stir shows or didn't really know how to think ahead of time for “oh I've got 12 chefs who are battling it out, and they all need to have octopus. But they need to have backup octopus.”

There's just all these things that go into a competition show that you have to consider. So they brought me in as a consultant for the regular season on season two in LA, and I brought that really both the perspective of as a contestant and all the things that I was missing in season one, and also my expertise as somebody who produces culinary demos and culinary events.

Interestingly enough, my first time in Hawaii as an adult was when they gave me the job of supervising culinary producer and sent me to do the finale by myself out in Waikoloa on Big Island. So that was my first time in Hawaii as an adult. I remember we shot down in Waipio Valley and I met Alan Wong. That was my first time meeting Alan Wong. And that was my first time meeting Alan Wong and everyone's like, “Are you guys related?” And interestingly enough, he knew my cousin. He had gotten my cousin married. My cousin got married and had his reception at Alan’s restaurant.

… So anyways, excuse me one second. Hey Pat. Sorry about that. Sorry, the donuts just came out of the oven. He was like, “What do I do?” I’m like, “Make glaze.”

Yeah, and so that was my first time in Hawaii. And I kind of got that, I reconnected with my family after that trip. My dad has had four generations of family living here in Hawaii for many years and it was nice to see them. I hadn't seen them since I was in my twenties, and to come back and sort of just touch base and like, “Oh, you know, come visit us.” And so that was like the first step in the call of the Aloha.

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

The transition.

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

The transition was like, “Oh this is a really beautiful place.” And so I was working at French Culinary, and they would always let me take like six weeks off to go produce the show. And so I produced seasons two through six in the first Top Chef Masters. And that was like solid four or five years of living out of a suitcase. 

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Wow.

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

Just being on the road while I was, and I would come home and do my French Culinary job. So it was great.

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Wow, so you were busy.

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

Mm-hmm.

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Now, where did I saw a note here also that you were a Chef Consultant for Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations?

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

No, no, not Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. It was the Catherine Zeta-Jones, Aaron Eckhart remake of the German film Mostly Martha called No Reservations. 

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Oh, okay.

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

I would say it's a rom-com, but there's like no comedy. It's a culinary romance movie about a chef who takes in her niece after her [the niece’s] parents–her [the chef’s] sister–dies in a car accident, and she's got this new child in her life, and she's got a balanced running restaurant, and she has this cocky new sous chef who she falls in love with and yeah.

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Well look, that is a classic example of taking all of your skills and the opportunities that you can expand to, you know, major movie production.

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

Yeah, I mean it was fun. I got to train some of the actors as well as develop the on-camera food for the movie.

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Awesome. And you know your overall involvement in television and cooking competitions and all this stuff hasn't hasn't slowed down since, right? You've had in addition to your restaurants you've had cookbooks, and I think there's a new cooking competition that you're going to be on that may be airing either before or after this actually airs.

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

Newish. Newish. Yeah, now I'm being featured on Season 6 of Tournament of Champions. Yeah, in the past 20 years, I think since I did Top Chef 1, I've been on dozens of shows on Food Network and Bravo and Cooking Channel and Discovery. It's been a lot of fun. Just being able to communicate through food and go out and eat, talk about it, meet people, meet chefs, meet people who are equally passionate about what we do; I think that's the benefit of what we do is that it never gets stale.

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

How do you balance it all? 

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

We figure it out, we figure it out. 

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

I know that might be a loaded in a question, right? Yeah, it's you know, between physically like where you are and…

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

Yeah, I mean, balance is a loaded word. I think it's just a matter of always working towards a goal. I moved out here in 2013, opened up the restaurant early 2014. We're celebrating our 11th anniversary today. 

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Congratulations!

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

Thank you. And yeah, it's a huge feat in restaurant years. 

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

It is.

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

And we're just really, really lucky that the restaurant itself has had so many wonderful employees that run it over the past 11 years and have contributed. I mean, that was the goal was to create a community of our own. And what's cool is that we're a brunch restaurant and so it's a different meal time, and we've got regulars so we've kind of become like that little–I wouldn't say a diner, we're a little bit more upscale than a diner–but we've become that community restaurant that we can depend on seeing the same faces week after week which is really really nice. And then of course we have visitors so it's been good.

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Yeah. And did I see that you launched in Japan last year? Sorry, two years ago?

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

Yeah, we opened in Tokyo in 2023 and then we opened our Osaka location last September 2024. Yeah, total fun.

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Wow. What was that like growth planning? People here in the States, they'll move from New York to Miami or open up a new location in Nashville, but opening from Hawaii and opening in Japan. That's quite a…

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

I think it was just a matter of… It was a goal from day one was to basically create a concept that could be eventually licensed in Japan. And so with that, we have very specific menu items that were created specifically for Japanese tourists. Some of those menu items became so popular over the years, and we had been courted by half a dozen different prospective partners. We finally settled on good operating partners, and we were about to sign a lease and then the pandemic happened. So all construction was halted in Japan. And then eventually when they started allowing tourism again and life to start back up, we had found new real estate, even better real estate because of all the businesses that had closed during the pandemic.

We are very lucky. We have a great location behind Tokyo Station in Tokyo in the Shinmaru-Nouchi building. And then we're in a brand new business park. We’re in phase one of a three-year project, a brand new business park behind the JR Osaka Station. So everything is really, really close to mass transit. 

You know, I have had a love affair with Japan for the past 15 years. I've traveled all over the country. I've spent time working in Kaiseki restaurants there, and it's just been one of my favorite places to travel to for both food and culture and art and just the general people in society are just lovely. Yeah, all things Japan!

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Yeah. And you are closer from Hawaii than you are from New York.

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

I am, I am. Yes, I was like, there's no such thing as bad food in Japan, so.

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Yeah. So, I mean, you've created this community and network out in Hawaii. One of the things I think in hospitality in general, as you know, as you've built your career is it's so important to be around or, adjacent to people that you work with, that you look up to, etc. 

What are some of the challenges–being in Hawaii, the network is just slightly smaller from a talent perspective–what are some of the things that you do to stay motivated / make sure that you're remaining and building kind of the hospitality talent network along with your community?

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

I think Hawaii faces a very special set of circumstances. Obviously, we are the most isolated place on the planet, so our community is very small. Even though Oahu has, I think, a million people on it now, all the outer islands, it's like there's a huge dip. So you go from 1.2 million down to under 200,000 on Maui, under 70,000 on Kauai. 

Within these communities, you're looking for a labor force that has to have skill and training. Because we are a state that depends on tourism, there are obviously a lot of hotels and resorts here. And so that's also a very different type of, I think, career in terms of their differences in working at a hotel versus working at a small bakery or a mom and pop independent restaurant or in a food truck or at a farmer's market, huge differences. We have great community college programs here, pretty much on Kauai, Big Island, Oahu, and Maui. The community colleges all have culinary programs, which is awesome. 

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Nice.

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

But again, our numbers are really, really small comparatively when you think about all of the available labor that there is on the mainland, right? So the biggest thing for us is creating culture. It's really, really important as a restaurant that the people–like if you don't like to eat, you probably can't work here. And if you're not interested in food, probably not the best place for you to have a job. If you don't like to be on your feet, again, probably not the best place for you. 

So it's creating your own work ohana, and you do that through creating a positive work environment, which means having great management, great leaders in place, and then just making sure that we're communicating every day with our staff and making sure everybody's enjoying a good time. The food can be great, and our food is great. Our chefs do a phenomenal job. Our customers, our regulars will tell you, they come back to see our front of the house staff who are amazing. And that's really part of, you know, it's the yin and the yang. You can't really have a great restaurant without both. So we have great synergy here, I think, between our front of the house and the back of the house. 

Again, it's always amazing for me when I'm out there in the ether and people tell me how much they love the restaurant, and then they drop my employees by name. And they're like, “So-and-so took care of me” and “ love the service” and that just fills me, you know. I'm like, that's amazing.

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Yeah. Well, and you really are out in the ether, whether like physically donating your time and and being at events and appearing to support all these great causes. Then, of course, like virtually on television where it's like, you can be in three places at once. Right? 

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

Sometimes.

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Yeah. So, you know, one of the things that we get when we're talking with talent also is it's like there are some people who–whether they're currently working in the industry or they're aspiring and they're just starting out–who would love to add some type of media component to their career path or repertoire or go on to be on a competition or some show, etc. Given all your experience, do you have any advice for those folks who want to get that type of experience or get in front of the right scenarios?

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

Blip on your radar screen. And honestly, I mean, yes, there's like, food television can do great things for your career, but it shouldn't be your end goal because at the end of the day, it doesn't pay your bills. 

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

That’s great advice.

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

I think it's important to remember that sometimes the people you see on TV, they've been on TV for 20 years ,and they've worked their way up to where they are. You’re looking at the one percentile of the one percentile. I've been on TV for twenty years here and there and I have not made any money off of it, so it's like… 

But we do it because it's great advertising for our brand, it's great advertising for our businesses, and there are benefits to becoming becoming known within the culinary industry. But you know at the end of the day I would always rather that be on the merits of my food and my cooking versus like, “Hey, today we're gonna make this recipe!” 

I mean, I think to each their own, and I would say that the media world, anybody can be a media star now. This is the day and the age that we live in where we have these sometimes really wonderful TikTok videos, and sometimes you see those chef reaction videos, like they're dumping cans of cream of mushroom soup and a five pound bag of cheese and something over tater tots and like chicken nuggets and you’re like, “What are they doing?”

It's technically, it's cooking, but is it cooking? So again, everybody has access to the ability to put themselves out there in the media. My recommendation to people who want to get involved is, what's your story? What's your story? Why would people want to watch you? What do you bring to the table? Is it technique? Is it great recipes? Is it farm to table? Is it just comedy? You just want to share? It can be any reason, but have a goal and have a reason to do it and understand that it is a commitment. You have to be consistent about it. 

I wish I was better with my social media and doing cooking videos, but it's like I live at home with a husband and a seven-year-old son. It's totally crazy all the time. I'm always traveling, so I don't have a little fancy cooking studio to do cooking videos because there's dino nuggets everywhere, peanut butter and jelly. 

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

With cheese sprinkled on top, right? Don't forget the cheese, mom.

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

Again, it's priorities and I think like when I have the time and I have the wherewithal that I want to do cooking videos for the internet I'll do it, but right now is not that time. And I think that I've had such a fun breadth of experience over the years and trying to figure out what's next and what's important, especially in this political climate is like really, really… it's hard. 

Chefs, our industry is experiencing… Two articles just came out yesterday. One’s in Eater and one in like New York Magazine. They're like, five years after the pandemic, not much has changed in the restaurant industry. I'm like, who wrote this? Whoever wrote this clearly hasn't worked in restaurants, like ever. Because so much has changed post-pandemic, and it's become I think so much more challenging, especially for small independent restaurants to survive. 

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Yeah.

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

And we're talking about everything from you know, location, location, location. Like, are you in a city? Are you in a location that supports your business? Does your county work to support your business? Or are they contradictory? Do they hold you up? Can you not get your liquor license? Can you not get your construction permit? It's all these things that are preventative of a business actually opening up and doing what it's supposed to do, right?

You hear it day after day, small businesses, like, basically drowning in debt while they're waiting to get county approval or city approval to open up their business. Our labor market disappeared. Again, people figured out that I can make money on my phone sitting in my home versus going out and working. So people found different ways to earn income post pandemic. And so we saw a huge shift with a drop in labor in both front of the house and back of the house. And what's interesting is that when people came back, when we came back from the pandemic, now it's like the pandemic never existed, right? It feels that way. 

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Depends who you ask, right?

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

Yeah, you know, I think to an extent, the general public expected the same level of service. And it's hard for a consumer to understand the ins and outs of a business and how much losing staff or the rising cost of goods or even like the cost of a box of gloves going up 1000%, like they don't understand how that impacts a business on a day to day, you know, and all the expenses because what a customer sees is pretty much what's on the plate in front of them. They don't see all the hidden costs that go into creating a meal for somebody. 

So I think everybody from private chefs to hotels to food trucks to restaurants continue to feel this squeeze honestly and there's a lot of… I mean I was texting with a bunch of friends yesterday who were like freaking out because of these tariffs. They’re gonna throw tariffs on wine and alcohol, and a lot of our bottles and glass are coming from Mexico and South America. I've had so many people tell me like, don't worry, don't worry about politics, it doesn't affect you. Everything affects everything, and everything in my industry from the labor who picks your fruits and vegetables in the field to the person who drives the truck across country to deliver your food, to the staff in your kitchen. 

America's always been a melting pot. America has always been, I think, a mix of people and cultures. And that's what makes our industry so strong, I believe. It's just diversity continues to strengthen and make our foods that social fabric that everybody can understand. So if we can communicate and give through food and continue this positive message, that's what I've taken from all of this. It's kind of like we have to put our head down and focus on what's in front of us. 

And so again, with hiring and stuff, we're always looking for qualified people, but I think it's become so much harder to find somebody who wants to do the work, to be honest. 

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Yeah.

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

So part of our game is to create culture and create a work environment that we believe people want to work in and earn money in.

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Yeah. Well, you had so many, so many good points in there. You're absolutely correct in general about the long-term ripple effects of the pandemic. And the goal is not to go back to pre-pandemic, right? It's just things are different. Everything's different. The goal is to continue to evolve and come up with solutions that support the business owners and enables them to continue doing what they do because the demand on the consumer side continues to grow, and there's still a disconnect with like, “why does this cost this now? It used to cost this,” right?

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

I think there's a great, you know, there's all different types of businesses out there and there are a lot of misconceptions because, again, it's easy to throw stones from your digital keyboard-force field. But a lot of people are like, “Oh, greedy owners this, pay your workers more.” And I'm just like, where do you think the money to pay workers comes from? 

Honestly, I know so many owners that don't take a paycheck or take less than a paycheck or literally at the end of the day, at the end of the year, they're netting less than all their employees, you know? So it's just, the purpose of the business is not for like your business owner to struggle constantly, but at the same time, it’s within a business owner's best interest to make sure that they're taking great care of their employees. You can't have it both ways. And so I think this common misconception that owners mistreat their employees is not true. Of course there are going to be bad eggs. 

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Clickbait.

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

Yeah, clickbait. There's always going to be bad eggs. But I think that, for the most part, most owners out there are trying to make their dream happen. You know, trying to make that dream happen. 

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Yep, yep, and build community.

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

And build community and provide a service. And so it's like, again, I think we need to open up more dialogue between the consumer and the business owner so they have a little bit more empathy and appreciation for the services that are being provided.

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Yep, yep, and job creation. You know, so I am with you. 

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG 

Taxable income!

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Oh geez, I know. We could have a whole other episode about this for sure. But you're absolutely right. And I think there were there were conversations that–if you had to look at positive things during the pandemic–there were conversations that that were eye openers to a lot of consumers like, I didn't know, this is why, tips, I didn't know that these were the rules that we were all playing by in the United States, etc. And we did see a little bit of empathy-slash-”they are frontline workers.” They are crucial to day to day life. 

But like you said,  couple years later, some folks are back to their business as usual, while others are still managing the ripple long term effects of “OK, how do I continue to evolve and support my team, my business, providing great service and great product to guests and consumers and making everyone happy?”

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

I think it's honesty, and I think that it's especially… People just need to understand that we are also victims to the corporate industry that everyone's like, no, they’re eggs! I'm like, yeah, of course they're eggs, but are egg prices going to drop? Absolutely not. Now that everybody can see, “Oh I can make a heyday with eggs.” Like, they're not going to drop those prices. I mean, that's the industry that we live in, whereas the prices of gloves haven't really dropped, the prices of X, Y, and Z haven't really dropped. Those fuel surcharges are still on our invoices. So it's like all of these surcharges, we're absorbing those things. 

Again, it's really important that the customer and the consumer ask questions, you know what I mean? So they better understand policies versus just leaving a bad review. It's really important that to understand that if restaurants aren't perfect, businesses aren't perfect, so if there's something that is not good or you don't agree with or something didn't turn out the way you expected, have that conversation.

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Yep.

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

It's really important and I think if a business owner is smart, they will listen. Because that is your business, is customer service. And so it's really important that, with a grain of salt, you listen to your customer's concerns and that's gonna help you improve.

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Yep, absolutely. What hasn't been covered enough is, in my opinion, is actually a lot of talent coming back to the industry. Yes, some left and some stayed doing other things. But we have seen this new found excitement, love, passion to work in the industry. And that's something that's positive. Right? And a lot of it is attributed to you, you in particular, people like you who are out there showing kind of the excitement, the positive things, whether it's on TV or doing a great job in your businesses and keep evangelizing the well-being and the support of the industry. So thank you for that. 

One of the things that we love doing is really highlighting and supporting the people who want to work in the industry. You have new waves of culinary students or hospitality students or just folks that were inspired by a show or Food Network and they're like, “I want to do this. How do I get started?” And then they're starting to work and they're starting to learn. And that I think is always a positive. We have a little ways to go. There are skills gaps, etc. But at least we're seeing some early indications of moving in the right direction. 

But on that note, I'm going to go to quick-fire questions. Because everyone likes a quick fire. Especially you with your competitive nature, right? I did not mean to make that joke, but it just came out of my mouth. So, what advice would you tell your younger self?

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG 

Be patient. Be patient. 

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG 

I would tell myself that too.

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

Yeah, again, I think the older we get, the faster time passes. Enjoy the moment. That's really it. I think that I've been lucky enough to have such a wide breadth of experiences. I need to figure out how I'm going to record it all down before I forget it all. It was like years of old laptops with photos trapped on them. 

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Time for a memoir!

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

Yeah, no, it's kind of there. Enjoy it while you can, and don't be in a rush. It's a marathon, not a sprint.

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

What's your advice for someone struggling in the industry?

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

Don't give up. Find help. Talk to somebody. The mental health crisis in our industry and substance abuse problem, it's bigger than it's ever been. It's sort of the elephant in the room. I've been doing a lot of work with Southern Smoke Foundation and just working on my own mental health in the past year and half since my restaurant in Maui burned down. And it's really, really important that you take the time to process whatever it is that you're going through, whatever it is you're feeling. So that way you can be your best self in the kitchen and around your coworkers. 

I always tell my employees, I'm like, “Hey, if you're not physically, emotionally, mentally prepared to come to work, if you know you're gonna have a bad day, let's see if we can get your shift covered, because that's not good for anybody involved,” you know? So it's really important that you prioritize your mental health, but you still stay motivated to work. We're always self-improving every day.

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

What's your advice for fellow hospitality leaders?

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

I mean, we're all over the place. I think that through all this noise, it's really important that we stay focused. We stick to our moral fiber and our principles and our integrity. And we continue to be these safe havens in our community for people to be able to come and work and enjoy what they do, and also for our guests to be able to come in and have a delicious meal and to feed themselves and refuel. 

I am staunchly political when I need to be and can talk about it, no problem, but I think for the meantime, it's like, okay, let's just hyper-focus on doing what we do and doing it really, really, really, really well. And that way, I can forget about the five minutes of news that I read this morning. I think our country's going through a really difficult time, and what we can do is, again, continue to be pillars of strength for our employees and our community. That's the most important thing. And take care of ourselves. That's the number one thing. It's like you can't have a ship without a captain. So take care of yourselves.

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Yeah, I love it. I love it. On that note, Lee Anne, thank you so much for taking time. I know you've got donuts that are hot and ready to go. 

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG 

They're glazed. All set.

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

They’re glazed! All right. All is good. But really, thank you so much. I know that our audience is always eager to hear directly from leaders such as yourself and how they navigated these magnificent careers. So really appreciate you taking the time and sharing the advice.

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

Awesome. 

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

And look forward to the memoir and to watching you in the next competition show. Thanks. 

 

GUEST: LEE ANNE WONG

Awesome. Tournament of Champions, Season 6. Stay tuned.

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG

Tournament of Champions. Spin the wheel! Okay.

 

HOST: ALICE CHENG
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