Guy Kawasaki's Remarkable People Why David Chang Is ‘Steve Jobs with a Knife’
10 snips
Oct 29, 2025 
David Chang, the innovative chef behind Momofuku and author of Eat a Peach, discusses the bittersweet journey of culinary success. He reflects on the fleeting artistry of food, the relentless challenges of running restaurants, and the poetic nature of cooking. Chang shares insights on scaling the food industry, the emotional shift from chasing Michelin stars to prioritizing family, and the importance of caring over credentials in hiring. With candor, he emphasizes the need for quality in food innovation while tackling issues like labor shortages and representation.
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Food As Ephemeral Storytelling
- Food is a transient art that communicates a story and feeling in the moment.
- David Chang highlights the absurd economic fragility of food that disappears hours after being eaten.
The Brutal Reality Of Restaurant Work
- Running a restaurant forces you to do everything from plumbing to cleaning literal messes, puncturing romantic notions of the job.
- Chang compares daily restaurant work to diffusing bombs while also creating them, stressing relentless operational challenges.
Why Food Resists Traditional Scaling
- Food businesses face unique scaling limits because cooking requires people, place, and terroir.
- Chang argues that scalability in food differs from tech because taste and cultural context are tied to location and craft.
