It was announced on Monday the Aucklander was leaving Nourish Group, which owns nine restaurants including Queenstown's Jervois Steak House.
The MasterChef judge is also negotiating the sale of his 15% stake in the business.
Mr Gault (50) told the Otago Daily Times the move had been brewing for a while.
His and wife Katrina's daughter Hazel was now 20 months old and he was worried fatherhood would pass him by too quickly.
''Racing around New Zealand from one restaurant to another isn't conducive to being a great dad ... It takes me out of Auckland too often and leaves me getting home too late and leaving too early to see all those occasions that happen with a young person growing up.''
Mr Gault said the attraction of having a business in Queenstown was that it was such a great town and beautiful - but Auckland was his focus now.
The chef still heads Simon Gault Home Cuisine and food importer Sous Chef. He is also hoping for a return to television.
TVNZ dropped MasterChef last October and it has since been picked up by TV3.
