Apple CEO Tim Cook recently visited the UK just before Christmas, where he met King Charles III. While there, Cook also sat down for a podcast interview that was just published—here’s what he shared about his daily and weekly routines, nontraditional retirement plan, personal upbringing, and a lot more.
CEO Cook joined the Table Manners podcast with Jessie & Lennie Ware for this new interview. You can listen to the episode here on Apple Podcasts.
The nearly hour-long conversation covered a wide array of subjects, including Tim Cook’s go-to foods, favorite wine, morning routine, nontraditional retirement plan, and details about growing up in Alabama.
Tim Cook’s thoughts on retirement
Tim Cook was asked whether he will ever retire, to which he replied:
Sure, but not the traditional definition of it. I don’t see being at home doing nothing and not intellectually stimulated and thinking about how tomorrow can be better than today. I think I’ll always be wired in that kind of way and want to work. I mean, I was working when I was 11 or 12…You want to be pushed a bit. You want to be uncomfortable a bit…I think I’ll always want to be pushed.
Morning routine and email volume
When the interviewer asks whether Cook starts his day at 5 a.m., as they had heard, Cook confirms:
Yeah. Emails probably a little earlier than that. As it turns out, it’s the part of the day that I can control the most. As the day starts to unfold, it becomes less predictable…So I love the part of the day that I can kind of block out the world and focus on a few critical things and just be silent for a while.
When I get up in the morning, I typically grab coffee and some cereal…Then I’m doing emails and generally, what I’m focused on in the morning is responding to employees and customers.
Speaking of emails, Cook shares how many he receives per day:
It’s in all probably 500, 600. And in some days where there’s something extraordinary going on, it will be a lot more than that.
Tim Cook’s fast food job and favorite meals
Cook spoke a lot about his upbringing in Alabama. He mentions working in fast food from an early age:
I started flipping burgers when I was probably 14, 15. I was first throwing papers…and then I graduated to flipping burgers…I worked at a place called Tasty Freeze. I was making $1.10 an hour at the time. It was sub-minimum wage, which was legal at that point in time.
Apple’s CEO also shared that, despite his last name being Cook, he personally doesn’t typically cook food.
I don’t cook. Caffè Macs is so incredible. I have lunch in Caffè Macs and I take a dinner home from Caffè Macs during the week…I typically go for the fish.
Other food-related tidbits:
- Cook’s favorite meal growing up was fried chicken
- He’s a big fan of chocolate, especially dark chocolate
- Kistler chardonnay is Cook’s personal favorite wine
- One of his favorite Palo Alto restaurants is Ethel’s Fancy
- Cook mentions that Apple makes jam from fruit trees planted in Apple Park
Apple’s CEO and Genmoji
Finally, Cook talked Apple Intelligence and explained Genmoji to his interviewers.
One of them asked if he had a custom Genmoji himself. Cook, always a diplomat, had a London-themed answer:
I was working on one yesterday. I love Christmas, and London is like the ultimate Christmas city. So I was looking at what would Big Ben look like with a tree out front.
The full interview is well worth a listen to get a better look into Cook’s life.
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