Alumni Gazette

Barry Yarkoni ’74 says he first learned to cook by watching Julia Child on television. He now hopes to play a role in inspiring many more new cooks as chief operating officer of the Wolfgang Puck Cooking School, the Los Angeles celebrity chef’s online venture that Yarkoni helped found and launch last fall.

“This is the most fun I’ve had since Gilbert basement,” says Yarkoni, an engineer-turned-executive, who was a resident advisor on the basement floor of Gilbert Hall when he led the residents in the founding of an ultra-local newspaper, The Gilbert Cockroach.

Yarkoni has been partnering with David Sculley, former CEO of Heinz, in multiple online ventures for the past several years. This latest one, however, is something of a dream job for Yarkoni.

“We have a small, collegial team,” he says of the core staff of five men and two women. “Everyone involved in this venture loves to cook. It’s unusual to be in a group that includes a bunch of men sitting around a table comparing recipes.”

Puck, whom Yarkoni met through Sculley, is the major partner in the operation, which is a separate entity from the chef’s Fine Dining Restaurants Company and product lines under Wolfgang Puck Worldwide. Yarkoni and Sculley are the other partners in the venture, which is “located” at WolfgangPuckCookingSchool.com.

The school has a different aim from most cooking shows on television, according to Yarkoni. “You might pick up a few things, but [cooking shows are] more entertainment than education,” he says. “Right from the get-go, we wanted to make this really educational. Wolfgang really loves to teach, and I think that’s been one of the secrets to his success.”

Yarkoni prepared the groundwork for a successful online business operation, according to Sculley. “Barry brings amazing business experience to this assignment, including automating every business process online,” he says. “So the company operates virtually with great efficiency.”

Yarkoni and Sculley worked for three years on the financial and legal issues to bring the project to fruition. They had a studio built just for the school, located in the Pacific Design Center, right next to one of Puck’s catering kitchens. “We have these awesome facilities 20 feet away, with walk-in refrigerators and freezers, and a huge industrial-scale dishwashing operation.”

Puck’s lessons, however, are designed to be accessible. No walk-in refrigerators or industrial dishwashers are required for participation. Indeed, Yarkoni hopes a few of his classmates will give the school a try. As a partner, he’s been able to establish special benefits for designated VIPs. Anybody can get a 14-day free trial to the subscription service. But Rochester alumni aren’t just anybody. “I set up the guest code ‘Meliora,’ ” Yarkoni says. “It gives you a month free, with no credit card required.”

—Karen McCally ’02 (PhD)