From the Streets to Chef on a Superyacht
Insights by Stephan Staats | 06.08.2025
Stephan Staats has spent the last 30 years cooking on some of the world’s most breathtaking superyachts. Now, at 51, he’s found a bit of calm in his new role as Development Chef at Viking Cruises — at least for now. Because the past decades have been anything but steady.
Staats’ story begins in Solingen, a small city in Germany’s Bergisches Land region. As a little boy, he decides he wants to become a pirate. A few years later, he drops out of school without a diploma and opts for a chef’s apprenticeship. “At some point, I realized that being a pirate wasn’t exactly a recognized profession,” Staats says today with a laugh. “My grades were disastrous, but I could cook,” he recalls. Still, the pirate dream never truly leaves him. From the start, he feels the pull of the world: Mallorca, Australia, New Zealand. Harbors instead of lecture halls, galleys instead of comfort zones. The first jobs are rough, life is uncertain, and improvisation becomes his survival tool. “The biggest challenge is improvising. You never know what tomorrow will bring.”
First Job on the World’s Largest Yacht
Eventually, he makes his way to Antibes on the Côte d’Azur, a hotspot for luxury yachts. “I just walked through the harbor with my backpack, asking crews if they needed a cook,” he recalls. His English, he admits, was at first “a weird mix of panic and improvisation.” But it worked: He lands his first gig as a crew chef on the legendary Le Grand Bleu, one of the largest yachts in the world at the time. It’s only a short-term job, just for the journey from Kiel to Monaco — but it’s enough to open doors. “Suddenly, I was someone. People said: You can work with him,” Staats says.
Hello, Hollywood!
Soon, Staats finds himself cooking in cramped yacht galleys for Hollywood stars: Cameron Diaz, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nicole Kidman. “That was the first time I really tasted that glamorous life. It fascinated me.” But behind the luxury facade, it’s crowded and chaotic. Staats must always be on. “You never really go home. Even after a 16-hour shift, you’re still at your workplace,” says the now 51-year-old.
Suddenly on the Streets…
Life for the crew isn’t easy either. Rigid schedules, tiny shared cabins, little sleep, and high pressure. Many colleagues give up: “Chefs are survival artists, but many crack under the pressure, the addictions, or their egos. I was lucky.” Staats makes big money in short bursts, sees the world’s most stunning places, and eventually returns to Antibes. There, he spends weeks searching for his next ship. Funds run low, and after a string of misfortunes, he becomes homeless — sleeping at the harbor, begging for food and money. It isn’t his first time; he was homeless once before at 17. But he doesn’t give up.
Hollywood Stars and Harsh Realities
Then come new opportunities: first on the 35-meter motor yacht Satin, then on the Talitha G, owned by the Getty family. And the journey continues. At one point, Staats spends 195 days straight on a yacht without setting foot on land. Workdays of up to 22 hours aren’t unusual. But the German-French chef loves it: the sea, the cooking, the ships. After countless seasons, failed relationships, crashes, and fresh starts, Stephan Staats always finds his way back to the water — whether on mega-yachts hosting Hollywood guests or, at times, on rescue vessels in the Mediterranean. Between 2013 and 2018, he cooks for MOAS, a humanitarian organization rescuing migrants at sea. But even the grandest adventure can become a trial. Eventually, he steps ashore for good.
Staats writes his own column, publishes a book about his experiences, and experiments with food-waste concepts and pop-up dining in London. His network now spans from Hollywood stars to culinary legends of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
Like Pippi Longstocking
With his new role at Viking Cruises, Stephan Staats has finally arrived. For a fleet of 100 ships, he develops recipes, digitizes workflows, designs the galley of the future — and takes pride in having, for the first time in his life, a five-day, 40-hour workweek. “Maybe some of this will stay for the chefs who come after me.”
The wanderlust, the urge for new harbors, and his uncompromising self-criticism remain. His long-term dream? To travel Europe’s rivers on his own houseboat — maybe even host guests on a small Airbnb yacht. “I’m like a male Pippi Longstocking. I make the world the way I like it,” he says with a laugh.
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