The Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group's Generational Tasting Tour reaches Spago Shanghai on October 13, pairing founder Wolfgang Puck and his son Byron Lazaroff-Puck for a multi-course four-hands dinner that doubles as a public marker of the group's leadership transition. The Shanghai stop follows previous dinners in Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, İstanbul, Budapest, London, Maui, and Singapore.
The Succession Story
Byron Lazaroff-Puck became president of Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group in 2025 after training in Michelin-starred kitchens internationally. The tour is the group's most visible vehicle for introducing him as both a culinary voice and a business leader to the fine dining world. For operators watching closely, it is a case study in structured succession — using a rolling experiential dining series across flagship properties to build brand continuity alongside a leadership handoff.
The menu format reflects that intent. Wolfgang revisits dishes and techniques spanning his career while Byron responds with preparations shaped by his own international training and the ingredients of each host city. In Shanghai, local flavors and seasonal ingredients are woven into the dialogue. The experience also extends to the table: each guest receives a collectible newspaper-style menu referencing Wolfgang's long association with print and storytelling, which evolves visually toward Byron's design sensibility as the meal progresses. Interactive augmented-reality elements and reimagined film-poster details add additional narrative layers.
"Cooking with Byron has been one of the most meaningful parts of this tour for me," Wolfgang Puck said. "I've watched him travel the world, build his own experiences and develop his own point of view. Now we get to cook together, learn from each other and share that experience through this tour."
Spago Shanghai's First Year
Located on the 21st floor of The St. Regis on the Bund, Spago Shanghai is itself celebrating its first anniversary. The restaurant has collected several industry recognitions in that short window, including the AHEAD Asia Awards 2026 Restaurant Award, The World of Fine Wine Best New Wine List in Asia, and Wine Spectator's 2026 Best of Award of Excellence — a credentialing sweep that positions the venue as a serious fine dining destination in one of the world's most competitive restaurant markets.
For hospitality operators tracking the performance of branded fine dining concepts in Asia, Spago Shanghai's rapid award accumulation underscores continued appetite for experiential, chef-driven formats in luxury hotel settings. The St. Regis on the Bund backdrop — with its 270-degree views of historic Bund architecture and the Lujiazui skyline — gives the concept a sense-of-place advantage that pure standalone restaurants often struggle to replicate.
What Comes Next
After Shanghai, the Generational Tasting Tour moves to re/ASIAN in Bahrain on November 5 and CARAMÁ in Las Vegas on December 10, before a grand finale in Beverly Hills — closing the circuit where the Spago story began in 1982. The tour's geographic arc, spanning six countries across three continents, reflects the group's current 22-restaurant global footprint and suggests the format could serve as a template for how legacy fine dining brands activate international properties without a traditional marketing campaign.
Industry observers following fine dining expansion in Asia and hospitality-driven beverage programming will find the Spago Shanghai model — combining a recognized culinary name, luxury hotel infrastructure, and aggressively pursued wine and design awards — worth tracking as the group extends its reach. Food & Beverage Magazine has covered the broader trend of chef-brand global scaling as a defining story of post-pandemic fine dining.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
