All right, Yolanda Harris here,
everybody with the Cameron Mitchell.
We're going to ask him
some rapid fire questions.
So maybe we'll get to know a
little bit about Cameron Mitchell
that you may not already know.
So Are you ready, Cameron?
I'm ready. I'll try my best.
Let's go your all time and see.
I don't want you to think about this.
Life has been the first thing you know,
top of your mind.
Your all time favorite dish
from one of your restaurants.
I was the original duck on the
original menu at Cameron's. All
right, fabulous. What are you most proud of?
My family and our the business we've created.
If you weren't doing the restaurant
business, what do you think you'd be
doing career wise? You know, I know
I was on the debate team in high school.
I originally was going to be a lawyer,
but then it was too much
reading and writing for me.
So and you know,
the restaurant business found me.
I I didn't find it.
It I happened to be having my first job.
I started. So I often wonder
if I started sweeping car lots,
would I be in the car Business Today?
You know, I don't know what I would be, but.
I I would like to be a politician,
believe it or not.
I thought about it.
I thought about running for Congress,
and I met with a congressman
one day out at the airport,
and he was coming home from
DC or on his way to DC,
and I spent an hour with him and
I couldn't run to my car fast
enough when I got done with that.
So I was my only foray into politics.
All right, give me a surprising fact
about you that most people don't know
when you're open, but what haven't you
shared? Give me some breaking news.
I love to golf, you know, surprising
some surprising fact.
I mean ambidextrous, deaf.
And one year it was something
surprising that we wouldn't think.
Can you cook?
I used to be able to cook.
Not much anymore. I joke.
I can't even boil water anymore.
My wife cooks at home and her favorite
thing to do is be with an apron on and
a glass of wine and bunch of people
around our island in our kitchen.
But she's a tornado in the kitchen,
so I clean up behind her and
help clean up the kitchen.
Afterwards. She
cooks. You clean? That's right.
That's right. What is?
You mentioned golfing.
What's your favorite hobby? What?
What do you enjoy outside of work?
Golf. For sure. Travel for sure.
I love to travel.
Friends and family, You know,
I say I'm really as deep as a baby pool.
There's not much to me as I
love to work and love to travel,
love to play golf, love to be with friends.
And I like an occasional drink or two.
So yeah, Ginna tonic, your favorite.
Yeah, that and Chardonnay.
That and Chardonnay, okay.
What's one piece of advice you
would give to your younger self?
You know, made a lot of mistakes over
the years and hindsight's always 2020,
but I got going a little too fast sometimes,
you know, particularly in in almost
ran the company off a Cliff,
I mean in 2000, 2001.
It culminated with 9/11, I,
like I mentioned earlier at 3
restaurants opening, but we had 10
restaurants at the turn of the century.
We built 8 restaurants in 2000 and 2001
and almost 100% growth in those two years.
And it was just too much and we
didn't know what we're doing.
We didn't, we didn't have the,
the processes and the the
experience that we have today.
And you know we're we're
building 11 restaurants now,
this next two year period here in 23 and 24.
But that's on a base of 60 so it's A
and we've got a lot more experience and
a lot deeper bench and and so forth.
So I I I say my my number one
advice would be to slow down you
know take a little bit of time and
not be not going full bore.
But you know the on the flip
side of that you know and I I
balance is very important too.
You know I didn't want to be grow a business
or or achieve you know some success.
And not know my wife not know my kids
and wake up one day divorced her.
You know that's strange for my kids
that is not was never in a card.
So I preach that all the time to
our people and it's very important.
You know
we say we have a little rule in
the company that's saying that you
can't be great at work if you're
not great at home and you can't
be great at home with or home
if you're not great at work.
And so we realize those
both run hand in hand.
That's good. That's good.
If you were going to go to dinner tonight,
which one of your Cameron Mitchell
restaurants will be your first
choice for tonight? That's
a tough question to,
you know, and and my wife, I
know. I know. My wife and I are
like any other couple, you know.
Hey, let's go to dinner tonight.
Great. Where you want to
go? Then it's 1/2 hour discussion and
I don't know and you know and then
you finally fear we're going to go.
So that's a really hard question
to answer, but you know.
Yeah, we had to choose
one. The Ave. in Grandview is
probably my number one choice.
We actually built that because there
wasn't a good neighborhood steakhouse.
We closed Mitchell's or sold Mitchell's
steakhouse downtown and in that area
and you know I wanted a place we can go.
I love a great steak and I'm pretty simple
guy and and so that's what we created
and and so that's probably my go to.
You know, get good steak
and a gin and tonic. Yeah.
And I'll give a shout
out to 3rd and Hollywood.
That's probably or there's
not our restaurant,
but that's probably the other
one we go to quite a bit.
That is a good one too.
That's a good one too.
All right. Well,
that concludes the wrap of fire questions.
Hope you guys learn something new.
What about Mr. Cameron Mitchell,
family man, entrepreneur,
restaurant tour mentor And we just don't.
Yeah. Great dad. So just a great,
great list of things and
attributes that you have, Cameron.
So thank you so much.
Pleasure to be with you, Alana.
Thank you very much.
You take care.