Game Changers by CS

Excellence is easy to admire. But incredibly difficult to keep up with. Today I'm with Alain Ducasse. A man who built one of the most influential culinary empires in the world. A chef who was not content to cook. Alain Ducasse imposed a requirement. A discipline. A constancy at the highest level. Since I was very little I've been curious about what I didn't know. And it's always go...

What does it really take to become a world class chef and develop Michelin level talent In this episode we sit down with Master Chef Josef Budde to break down the mindset discipline and philosophy behind building elite chefs and world class kitchens. He opened and ran iconic hotels as Executive Chef including Grand Hyatt Hong Kong and Grand Hyatt Tokyo. From mentoring young chefs to developing exc...

Most chefs spend their lives chasing one perfect restaurant. Christopher Mark built more than 100 across continents. From Canada to Japan at 18. From chef to businessman. From craft to scale. So here's the question nobody asks: At what point does growth destroy craft? Most chefs think scaling means losing what made them great. They protect their craft so tightly they can't expand. They sta...

Lu Yang isn't just China's first Master Sommelier. He's building something bigger. The largest wine school in China. Wine programs for 60 of the country's top restaurants. 20 Michelin stars. 30 Black Pearl diamonds. And a mission to spread wine as a social language. But here's what's different: 85% of his students aren't sommeliers or industry pros. They're doctors,...

There comes a point in every career when talent is no longer the issue. Courage is. In this Game Changers episode, I speak with Grégoire Michaud, founder of Bakehouse in Hong Kong, about craft, discipline, and the mindset behind building a brand people queue for daily. From Swiss apprenticeship to Executive Pastry Chef at Four Seasons Hong Kong, and then stepping out to build his own bakery, Grégo...

In this episode of Game Changers by CS, I sit down with Lorenzo Antinori, founder of Bar Leone, officially ranked World’s No.1 at The World’s 50 Best Bars 2025. But this conversation is not about awards. It is about the anatomy of mastery. Lorenzo did not enter bartending with a grand vision. He was a law student in Rome working shifts to pay bills. A random job became a calling. A YouTube video b...

In this first Game Changers episode, I speak with  Sean Dix , founder of dix design + architecture, about how meaningful spaces are created through clarity, not decoration. Sean calls himself a “stealth designer.” You walk into his projects and feel that everything is right, even if you cannot explain why. The design does not seek attention. It creates the container where food, service, light, sou...