From Dishwasher to Restaurant Empire: Cameron Mitchell on Loyalty and Culture

Josh sits down with Cameron Mitchell, founder and CEO of Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, to explore the leadership philosophy behind one of the country's most respected independent restaurant groups. Cameron shares the remarkable journey from high school dropout and dishwasher to building more than 100 restaurants, reflecting on the goals he set at 18 years old that ultimately shaped his entire career. Together they discuss why culture always outweighs strategy, the importance of promoting from within, and how creating opportunity not just jobs has helped his company retain leaders for decades.

The conversation dives into Cameron's approach to goal setting, accountability, leadership retreats, and maintaining values through economic downturns, rapid growth, and even the sale of part of his business. He explains why restaurants succeed or fail based on people rather than concepts, why family and work must thrive together, and how his commitment to long-term relationships has become the foundation of both his business and his life. It's an insightful conversation about entrepreneurship, resilience, hospitality, and what it really takes to build a company that lasts.

Links and resources 📌

Visit meez: https://www.getmeez.com

Follow meez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmeez

Follow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlsharkey/?hl=en

Follow Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sharkey-406965b/

Visit Cameron Mitchell Restaurants: https://cameronmitchell.com

Follow Cameron Mitchell Restaurants on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cmrcolumbus

Follow Cameron Mitchell on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/camsaysyes

Learn more about Cameron Mitchell's book Yes Is the Answer. What Is the Question?: https://cameronmitchell.com/book/

‍

03:54 Scaling From One To Ten Restaurants In The Nineties

07:01 From Dishwasher To Restaurateur

14:14 Opening The First Restaurant Against The Odds

18:59 Where The Drive Came From

29:19 Making The Hard Decisions Vision Demands

36:18 Fear Of Failure Versus Fortitude

42:02 Reputation, Trust, And Accountability

49:10 Retreats That Invigorate The Team

55:19 A Sous Chef, A Disney Trip, And Generosity

1:04:38 Selling The Company And Protecting The Culture

Joshua Sharkey (00:00.13)I think the best environment is when every single person is accountable to themselves. And if you have to rely on a manager to make sure you're accountable and if you're if they didn't tell you that, then you want to be able to praise people and catch them doing things right, things like that. But I find that it never works if it's not intrinsic. They have to have their right KPIs, like you they have to know what it means to be successful, how how to measure it. I yeah, I I totally agree. I I think when you create a culture where everybody knows that you're going to tell them

each week, each day, each month, if they're doing a good job or not, they're never gonna like grow out of that of that sort of individual contributor kind of you know mindset of of they're not a part of the bigger picture. But it's hard to do.

Cameron Mitchell (00:41.878)Right. One of my favorite things to say is we'll get there together.

Joshua Sharkey (00:44.738)Yeah. You're listening to the meez Podcast. I'm your host, Josh Sharkey, the founder and CEO of Meese, a culinary operating system for food professionals. On the show, we're gonna talk to high performers in the food business, everything from chefs to CEOs, technologists, writers, investors, and more about how they innovate.

and operate and how they consistently execute at a high level day after day. And I would really love it if you could drop us a five star review anywhere that you listen to your podcast. That could be Apple, that could be Spotify, could be Google. I'm not picky. Anywhere works, but I really appreciate the support and as always I hope you enjoy the show.

You know, opening ten restaurants in your first six years is is is pretty wild. I I I know, I've been there. It's it's it's fucking hard. You know, it sounds like this is something you've thought about long before you were opened a restaurant. If I if I if my facts are correct, you were thinking about this when you were a kid, writing a plan out of of of what you were going to do, what you were gonna build. Because opening ten restaurants in the first six years of you starting a business is really scary.

Cameron Mitchell (01:30.71)Trust me.

Joshua Sharkey (01:55.982)been there. Like I'm t you know, you after the first one, it's just terrifying because you know, every problem scales. So I I it feels like you had some sort of something within you that was like very sure, very early on. I am going to scale a restaurant group. Is that how this was? Were you day one, like this is going to be this massive group? I already know it. This is the plan. Or were you just, okay, I'm gonna open a restaurant, we'll see how it goes. If that works well, I'll go to the next one.

Cameron Mitchell (02:23.362)Yeah, it it's a series of goals. I'll tell you the I grew up in a a very Foolland s suburb of Columbus where we live. And I I like to say I l I lived in the have not section of that suburb and now I live in the same suburb and I actually have the nicest house in in the suburb there. We live in Arlington outside Columbus group. and you know, I saw all this success around me at a broken family.

you know, I saw these good families around me and they saw people with wealth, the country club, up on the hill there, you know, I got to go once a year with my rich and uncle. And so, I mean, I just always envied that, always wanted that. And so, you know, then I was high school dropouts and carrying drugs and alcohol pretty heavily and was runaway and and and so forth. And I came back when I was sixteen to start my junior year and I I had to get a job.

My mom couldn't even give me lunch money. I had to work from the cafeteria for twenty minutes a day and washed dishes to get a free lunch and and so she couldn't give me any money for spending and I had to give her a job. So I got a job in nineteen eighty as a dishwasher for two sixty five an hour at a local outpost of a national semi national brand called Corcrean Glee, or Steakhouse. Started washing dishes, doing light prep work, et cetera. busing tables, you know, whatever I could do, learn get on the line, started cooking a little bit and

And worked my way through high school. I finished high school senior class president and and I had a one point five GPA and I finished my class rank. I was five ninety two out of five ninety seven in my class. So I was at the bottom of the barrel and I I but I knew when I came back off the run that, you know, only meat. You know, I can only count on meat, you know, I'm I wasn't gonna dare anything, I wasn't gonna win the lottery, you know, it's only through hard work and but

At that time I was just working for beer money and so I turned eighteen, I finally got on high school. I started at four fifteen hour at a local restaurant that was really, really busy. Max Nervous branched way back when and yeah, I do a thousand covers on a Friday or Saturday and you know, I started December seventh, I remember exactly, nineteen eighty two or eighty one, excuse me, the year I graduated high school and by February, you know, I was kinda I was just work

Cameron Mitchell (04:44.62)Not a boy, not a man, living at home with mom, working for beer money and I didn't get a while to college 'cause I didn't know what I wanted to do exactly. And it wasn't that I didn't work at college. I was kinda playing on it. It just a question of when and and this I got suspended for three days for being late and on probation and I and during my probationary period I was working at double shift that day. It was Friday, it was four PM, you know, AM shi s staff trying to leave, PM shifts trying to come on, everybody's trying to get employee meals and

The restaurant's already gap full, bars are already packed, and you know, meandered barking orders in the kitchen and I just looked across the line, I said time froze, I said, Man, I just love this action. I love this business. You know, this is what I'm gonna do. And so went home that night and I wrote out my goals. I'd heard about the CIA, so I'm eighteen at time. I'd heard about the CIA and so I was gonna go to the CIA, I was gonna become executive chef in five years at twenty-three, GM at twenty-four, regional twenty six, VP of Office.

President of a restaurant company by the time I was thirty-five. You know. Illusion or dream of owning my own restaurant. It was about being president of a restaurant company. I was just thinking about it was going to work my way up at that point. And so on Friday I was the laziest guy in the kitchener. Saturday I was the hardest working guy in the kitchen. You know, I woke my mom up, I showed her those goals. No, she was quite relieved and and and and then on Friday I was, you know, working for the man. On Saturday I was working for my career, my future. And

And you know, Friday lousy attitude, Sarry best attitude, and Friday has the laziest guy in the kitchen, and Sarry has the hardest working guy in the kitchen. So it all just changed literally overnight. So I got in the CIA, got turned down 'cause my high school grades were so poor I had to go take Math English course at a local theater college, Columbus State. And I got A's and reapplied and I finally got accepted. And off I went to the CIA and you know came back to Columbus, and wasn't really

plan on coming back to Clumis right away, but I ended up getting recruited back here. And this is the probably the best part of my career. I started with a small restaurant company, had one restaurant when I when I got I got on board to open the second one. It was a top ten white tablecloth restaurant down downtown. And then they were opening up their second and I became the Sioux chef for that when I graduated CIA and I became executive chef of the downtown one at twenty three. Hit that goal. I became general manager at twenty four of that restaurant, hit that goal.

Cameron Mitchell (07:09.792)At twenty six we built four restaurants and the operating partner, my boss, needed help, so I f I became the got promoted to oversee the front of the house operations for all four of those restaurants and and we grew to six and to eight eventually. And so I got to see all that. The four of us were in the company, our corporate chip, our our CFO, my boss, the operating partner, and me. So and I I just I got to see everything.

you know, raising capital, you know, putting the the mem illegal mem documents together, the you know, design of the restaurant, site selection, all those things. So that gave me a really good pedigree. And then I was twenty-eight at the time and at a local restaurant on Friday night. I started to become disillusioned with this company because my boss was a micromanager, great guy, taught me a lot very beginning, but he just was very becoming increasingly difficult to work with as the company got bigger and he just wasn't really capable of it.

you know, his weaknesses were showing. And he always joked, you know, I should have been number one, he should have been number two, but that's not the way it was. And so this company was owned by some local local wealthy business people and it was a hit pocket business for them. They were putting these restaurants into the real estate developments and so forth. And so they didn't care about us at all. And and so I started the ties that bound me to that company started loose and I started thinking about what's next. And and

all with the line of I want to be president of a restaurant company. So I went into a local restaurant on a Friday night, meet a friend for a drink at nine o'clock, I get off work and I get in there. And I'm waiting for my friend to arrive and the chef owner comes out of the dining room, out of the kitchen, you know, the rush is over. He's in his whites, he's got a glass of wine in his hand, he's out convincing with the guests in the dining room. I just was watching him. And I said, You know, that I had another pip guy. They said, That's it, I'm gonna start up my own restaurant company and so

that was May of nineteen ninety two and I left July eleventh of nineteen ninety two. I had a one bedroom apartment and about seven grand in my name and took me fourteen months to open the first restaurant. We opened up Cambridge October fifth of nineteen ninety three. I worked on a project downtown, you know, we're getting ready to get the lease done and I'd see premium design, I'd raise the capital, I'd business plan, the legal offerings and all that.

Cameron Mitchell (09:32.684)And then the landlord over the holidays went silent on me and my attorney says, Something's wrong. I don't know what's wrong yet. We'll find out soon enough. But I thought we gotta start thinking about plan B. So I started looking around, maybe for some other sites. I was all depressed and sure enough he he resurfaced in January and said, apologized to me, he said, Listen, I'm sorry, but the bank's repossessing the building and I just can't do a deal if you you move on and so

I found a little restaurant space up on the northwest side of town. And fortunately my attorney it was owned by a local attorney, my attorney knew that attorney and I got got an appointment with him and he decided to take a chance on me and lease the space to be in so I got down to my last seventy dollars rolling changed by groceries, so broke and finally got the lease signed and and raised the money in the capital, last of the money came in and

I'd raised four hundred thousand for that project for that restaurant. So I was able to write myself back a check for seven grand that I spent on copying charging. I dropped a typing class. I'd have someone type all my letters and business plans for me and all that. And you know, they'd off that seven grand until we opened up October fifth, nineteen ninety three. And you know, you've done one hundred and ten restaurants since then, so a hundred and twelve, whatever it is, and and that's the rest of the story. So

Joshua Sharkey (10:58.456)Funny s similar thing happened with my first location. It was well, I was bought by somebody else in the Middle East and I was devastated 'cause it was like the perfect spot. But it was serendipitous. Well

Cameron Mitchell (11:07.856)yeah, it it was one of those deals where, you know, life gives you lemons and you make lemonade out of it. I was in hindsight, if I actually would have got that site and done that site, we wouldn't be sitting here talking today, it wouldn't made it, you know. So I got lucky, really, you know. But I didn't think it at the time, but I got lucky.

Joshua Sharkey (11:23.47)It's funny how that works. Did you raise was it was it debt? Was it equity? Like like what was that what was that for four hundred?

Cameron Mitchell (11:27.95)I had about two hundred and fifty names. I was fortunate 'cause I was working at the part of the house of this restaurant company. So I got to meet a lot of people and about two hundred and fifty names. I had gained about twenty five of basically. And so I had a lot of notes. It was very depressing, you know. but you know, here's one example, like I had a regular guest of mine that I took care of all the time and he was an insurance agent.

I knew that. An insurance brokerage. And, you know, I called him up, said, Listen, Mike, I'm gonna start this company and I'd like you to invest in it. If you do, I'll buy my insurance from you. You know, it's like okay. You know, he knew he saw me an action. He goes, This kid could probably make it work. And so and I get the business on top of that. So I mean he was my insurance agent for twenty years. So stuff like that. I mean

my family really didn't make money. My brother, you know, put my two brothers put some money in, my mom put, you know, a little bit of money in. It just it you know, I just bootstrapped the whole thing, you know, to get it done and and so we finally got done and and off we went. Show up in the day, by the way.

Joshua Sharkey (12:42.54)What is is that the original Ocean Prime?

Cameron Mitchell (12:45.432)Yeah. Camera Chas stole about a thirty three years later.

Joshua Sharkey (12:49.398)It's just nuts, man. It's nuts. Well, I have a lot of questions about about that. But first, like you know, you were you you went to school to cook, you you became a sous chef, a chef, but but you your your goal was to then manage and then be a president instead of like, Yeah, I want to be the best chef in the world. I want a great, great food. What is that about? Like what why why president? Why why did you go that route?

Cameron Mitchell (13:13.324)I think, you know, I was leader of my little Cub Scout pack, you know, I was group leader in S VIA and senior class president of my high school. You know, the old entrepreneur nature versus nurture, right? You know to me I think it was picture, you know, I was always hustling you where I selling drugs in high school or or my lemonade stand or whatever I was doing. And then couple that with the fact that I grew up in an environment

you know, green with envy, if you will, of you know, these nice families and these nice homes and, you know, people had a lot of fun. Meanwhile I was I was miserable, you know, it was a pariah, you know, long hair and, you know, jean jacket, you know, kinda thing. Yeah yeah. And that gave me the drive. I mean, so I think I had the I always say in high school I had the can do, I didn't have the willdo. Yeah. You know, once I had the will do, then everything kinda clicked. And really never looked back. I mean

Obviously there's been lots of trials and tribulations along the way and I I usually you know, speaking of, you know, capital, I I like to tell a story. I feel like I've been for thirty-three years in Central Park sitting on a pickle bucket with two pickle buckets and board park complaining for thirty-three years. So I love being an entrepreneur. I love leading people and taking care of people and you know, even like the CIA when I went to the CIA, right? So I eventually

became on the alumni committee, eventually got on the board, I eventually became chairman of the board. I was first ever alumni board chair. I was the youngest ever board chair. That Columbus State College, I went and got my math English course in. I had a graduation speaker there several times. there's now a building there called Mitchell Hall, eighty thousand square foot stay there at Hospitality Management School there that I helped build and and create. And and so everything I've been involved with, I've I've always kind of, you know,

moved up the ranks, you know, and and you know and we gravitated towards leadership roles. So, I think it's just been inside of me, you know, since for a long time.

Joshua Sharkey (15:16.226)Yeah, I mean it's it's obvious. So y yeah, your first first graduate ever to chair the board of trustees for CAA. Now though I think you're the you're you are the largest donor to the CA as well. And I'm not if for a for a while. But I mean hearing your background, man, I that's why I asked the question like like why why did you want to be president? I I I had a similar background. I was drugs. I mean my dad passed away when I was like sixteen. I just got into a lot of drugs and then and

Cameron Mitchell (15:27.726)Thanks Steve L for ahead of me. I'm I'm

Cameron Mitchell (15:44.974)Yeah, yeah.

Joshua Sharkey (15:46.882)You know, like if it wasn't for wrestling, I don't think I don't think I would have made it, but I ended up getting a scholarship to culinary school for wrestling, ironically. And that changed everything for me. It's funny, my dad wanted me to go to Wharton and I ended up just wanting to be a chef. I wanted to be this incredible chef and that's what I did. I worked in like the best restaurants in the world for for a decade. And I look back and I love now I've been an entrepreneur for like fifteen years and I I think about someone you you making that decision early on. Again, a lot of the what I wanna talk to you about today is this

You have this steadfastness about you that has carried over for forty years where you're you've you've you made a decision very early on. Not just, okay, I want to be an entrepreneur, I want to be a president, but here's what I believe culturally about values. And as we all know in a business, there's gonna be every single day there's something that challenges you to just to to make you decide, well, you know what, this time I'll make a s I'll I'll make a a little divergence because of this. It's better money. But after that, I'll get back to the da da da.

And you've basically never done that. It seems like over the forty years of your career, you have been able to be really steadfast in why you started to do this and the culture that you have in your company and being able to somehow sustain that over a a long period of time. I hear these, you know, you have a lot of these little like quotes about about about your company that I imagine are helpful for the team to remember. But, you know, you said something in the episode with Sam Ochis, I don't know if you remember that.

few months ago you met with him. you turn into the wind, into the teeth of the storm. Right. So which obviously as a you know as an entrepreneur, you it really in anything, you know, you can either take a risk and win big or not take a risk and win small. And you seem to take you know big risks and, you know, opening a lot more fine dining restaurants when everybody's trying to do fast casual, which is clearly what you've always wanted to do. But my question is, you know, how where is this like strength come from for you where you're able to

Like stick to your guns no matter what over such a long period of time. I I know I can I I don't know you well, I don't know your business, but I can guarantee there have been times when it was just really, really hard, you know, and you're like, I can't there's no way I can make this decision, even though it's the right thing for my vision and values. How do you where does that come from? Is it your parents? Is it like something that happened to you early on?

Cameron Mitchell (18:06.658)Well, for one thing, Josh, I tell people like the joke I go, I can't wait till two thousand thirty because then I get to celebrate fifty years in the restaurant business. I'll finally get some street cred by then. So yes, I yeah, I talk about you know, great restaurant trade is difficult, if it was easy, everybody would do it. The bottom line answer your question really is fear of failure. I mean, I you know, I fear failure all the time and and but failure's just simply not an option. So, you know,

we've made mistakes, you know, I always say I may shoot myself in the foot every once in a while and lock my own limb for a little bit, but I'm not gonna shoot myself in the head. So I just you know, all the hardship I went through when young, when I was a kid, you know, nine to twelve as I as I digressed and my parents divorced and then I started into the drugs and alcohol, all that, I don't know, I just always found a way to survive and a way to to move forward. And and and so I like

Where there's a will, there's a way. I've been goal sitting all my life. You know, I still have still to this day I have a legal pet on my desk here, it says fourth quarter goals 'cause I'm in the fourth quarter of my career. And so you know, those are pretty powerful. And, you know, so I set that goal of at eighteen, being president of a restaurant company. And, you know, I finally became one at thirty. I opened up our first restaurant at thirty. So, but everything I did was to pursue that goal. You know, I had no idea today, you know.

we'd be as as big as we are across the country. Those were a series of kind of goals. You know, we wanna you know get the first restaurant open, obviously, then the next one. And then we we'd go a couple of bigger ones, you know, in two thousand eight or ninety eight. And then we wanna have ten by, you know, the turn of the century. And then, you know, read Jim Collins' book, Good to Great, and talks about where the three concentric circles interline in the interface and

What were you number one or two are you in marketing? And you were in the fish restaurant seatweed space there. And what are you what are you most passionate about? And what's got a great economic model? And and the fish market and the steakhouse did. And so we started to focus in on growing those. And that resulted in the sale. But you know, but we grew it into a regional kind of brand. And then we opened up reopened, I should say, Mitchell's Ocean Club, in two thousand six. And that just went crazy.