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I come from the restaurant business; you're talking to a guy used to working 12, 14 hours a day.

I spent a long time working in restaurants and making no money. It was very character-building, but I think it could have been built in a shorter time.

I would work as a cook, get a little money, then open another restaurant.

I worked in 40 restaurants over a five-year period.

Working at a restaurant is a tough gig.

Well, I got people that help me with the restaurant. I don't have to be at the restaurant 24 hours a day.

I spent seven years in France. Then, I went to Asia for five years. I came to London in 1984 and then America in 1985. In 1991, I opened my first restaurant in New York City.

I can't imagine leaving the restaurant. It's hard for me to separate my life from my work; I'm really thinking about what we're doing every day.

Six months after we started, in 1964, there was a day when we sold only seven sandwiches. If we'd taken all the money from the register, we couldn't have paid an employee, much less the food or the rent or all that. It could have been a turning point. We could have given up.

A quarter century of running a restaurant - that's a long time to do one thing.