Exclusive interview with Il Lupino Prime & Wolfgang’s Steakhouse co-owner Peter Zwiener

The first Il Lupino opened in Hawaii. Was there a special reason why you chose that location?

After I graduated, I became a banker. My father always worked in a restaurant, so we always talked about opening restaurants together. The first restaurant we opened was Wolfgang’s which was a steakhouse, but we always talked about opening an Italian restaurant. Because when I was a child, one of his favourite things to cook on the weekends other than steak was Italian food. He loved pasta vongole, especially. So, when we opened our fifth Wolfgang’s in Hawaii it was doing so well and so the landlord asked us, “hey, do you have another concept that we can put in the mall?” We said yes, and that we actually have an Italian concept that we’ve been working on for a while now. It was a small space, and so I recalled the stories my dad told about his time living in Italy and so we decided to call it Il Lupino. So, that’s the reason why we opened in Hawaii… it was more of an opportunistic move. We have always planned to open that concept, but when the opportunity presented itself then we took it.

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Had Hawaii stayed open, the Manila branch would be the third Il Lupino. However, the only other branch now is Il Lupino Prime in Tokyo. Can you share why you decided to give up the original location?

Well, the lease ended. That’s how it is in real estate, you are at the mercy of the landlord. Sometimes, the landlord works with you. It can be market conditions or it can be whatever the landlord decides. They wanted to charge a significant jump. Also, that restaurant was there for fourteen years… it was a good run. It would have required new investments. We survived through COVID, and we went through that whole up and down, and as a restaurateur, you have to be careful with expenses. 

You can have the best restaurant, you can be packed and making lots of money, but the main expense, especially if you do not own the property, is the rent. Then there is labour, and the food and beverage cost. And we’re the kind of restaurant that only likes to focus on high-quality products so our food cost is going to be typically higher. If we want to make the same margins as a low-cost restaurant then we will have to charge at such a price which might scare away too many customers. So we have to bring something down to be profitable. Something has to give. 

With costs in the West all going up, we have to pass some of it on to the consumer. But, there comes a time when the consumer also says, “wait a minute.” So, some (restaurateurs) might say, “ok, maybe I won’t get the high-end product anymore.” Or maybe serve smaller portions, or just do something else. To me, that’s the beginning of the end.

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The other Il Lupino is in Japan where Wolgang’s also has quite a strong presence. Why do you think your brands are doing so well in the land of Wagyu beef?

It was the first market that we entered internationally in 2014 (the first Wolfgang’s opened in New York in 2004), and while we wanted to expand, the world got hit with mad cow disease in 2005 and beef was not allowed to be imported into Europe and Asia. So, we decided to expand domestically which is why we opened in Miami, Beverly Hills, Hawaii, etc. So, when the world opened up again, we did it in Japan because now we can ship in the bone-in prime beef we want. 

I had a Japanese partner in Il Lupino who saw the growth of Wolfgang’s Japan (currently building their seventh branch) and suggested that we bring in Il Lupino as well. Sure, it’s the land of Wagyu and it’s really tasty, but most people cannot eat too much of it. It’s quite fatty so you will have two or three bites and you cannot do more. But, with red beef you can just keep eating it—and our steaks are huge—and they’re thinking “oh it’s so good” so they have another bite, and then another one, and before they know it they have finished the whole thing! As for Il Lupino, we had a very good chef in Hawaii when we opened up but unfortunately, he passed away three years into operation, but he left all these beautiful recipes. The original Il Lupino had a more casual vibe, but for Japan we wanted to level it up since we are in a more upscale area called Aoyama, added more dishes that fit the vibe and called it Il Lupino Prime. 

It is doing very well, and so when we decided to open here we followed the same concept. As you can see, we made the restaurant here very beautiful and elegant. But, it’s not obnoxious, it’s quite hip, you can come in for lunch and it’s not too fancy. 

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Anything new on the menu that we should try?

Well, these are all the recipes from the original chef, as well as some of the dishes my dad used to prepare. My dad’s in particular are the vongole, the meatball, and he loved pizza so he was always playing around with the texture of the pizza. He also loved osso bucco and we have a good one on the menu. 

How is Il Lupino Prime different from the other restaurants in its category? 

Our team, of course. We have a very talented chef who is from Sardinia who prepares the dishes of our original chef, but we also encourage him to add some of his signature dishes to the menu to give to give it his own touch. That’s the beauty of an Italian restaurant, we do not want it to feel like a chain. We like it to be like a boutique Italian restaurant. So we will have our standard Italian dishes that we are known for, and also some specials based on what is freshly available that day.

Are there more concepts on the pipeline you might be ready to share with us?

One that we just created in Japan is called Wolfgang Teppan. We already have a bunch of Wolfgang’s in Tokyo, and since we got a small space in Ginza we decided to do something more Japanese-focused but using our ingredients and beef products. It’s doing phenomenally well, we will open a second one in Jakarta later this year. Currently, I am also working on a Mexican concept. Not like a taco place, since everything I do is high-end. I like eating well, I like organic and natural products. I prefer food that is prepared fresh, I do not like pre-cooking and canned items. So it’s going to look like this (motions around at the restaurant) but serving Mexican food, Wolfgang’s style.  

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