Yes is the Answer. What is the Question?

Cameron Mitchell’s “dish room to board room story” began in Columbus, Ohio when he was a 16-year-old troubled teen who failed at school and got a job as a dishwasher at a local steakhouse. Two years later when he was working as line cook during a chaotic shift change, he had an epiphany. He realized he loved the restaurant business and set out to make it his lifelong career.


International Book Awards Winner
2019 International Book Award-Winner
– Business: Management & Leadership Category
Named One of The Best Business Memoirs of All Time – Forbes.com, 2019


In this book, Mitchell tells the unvarnished story of his rapid rise and rags to riches story that any entrepreneur or restaurant enthusiast will love and learn from. With the voice of a natural storyteller, he reveals the highs and lows of a twenty-five-year journey: from fundraising for his first restaurant to coast-to-coast expansion, and his extraordinary sale of 22 restaurants for $92 million—after which he nearly lost everything, then rebuilt again. Most importantly, Mitchell shares the company culture and values that he believes were the secret to his success.

Today, Cameron Mitchell Restaurants remains independent and privately held, collectively generates over $300 million in annual revenue and operates 69 restaurants from coast to coast.

Cameron Mitchell has the guts to look you in the eye, admit his mistakes, and share the lessons he learned, in this straight-from-the-shoulder story of one of America’s most unlikely companies.


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Author

Cameron MitchellCameron Mitchell is the Founder and CEO of Cameron Mitchell Restaurants (CMR), headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Mitchell has enjoyed success as a lifelong entrepreneur, accomplished businessman, culinary expert and nationally recognized restaurateur.

Mitchell has built CMR around a strong company culture and set of values that put associates first. “Yes is the Answer. What is the question?” is a simple statement that serves as the backbone of a company that identifies itself as “great people delivering genuine hospitality.”

Cameron Mitchell’s successes in business and keen understanding of the restaurant industry have earned him countless awards and acknowledgements. Committed both to his profession and his community, Mitchell completed a two-year term as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Culinary Institute of America, the first alumnus to do so. CMR is the lead donor towards a new, $33 million, state-of-the-art Hospitality Management and Culinary Arts School at Columbus State Community College in Columbus, Ohio, where he lives with his wife, Molly, and their three children. He is also an active member of the Young President’s Gold Organization, the Columbus Partnership, and serves on the board of directors of the charter school, KIPP Columbus.

 

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Our Restaurants

The Avenue
The Barn
Big Rock Italian Chophouse
Budd Dairy
Butcher & Rose
Cameron's American Bistro
Cap City
Cameron Mitchell Premier Events
Cento Italian
Del Mar Mediterranean
The Guild House
Hudson 29
Lincoln Social Rooftop
Marcella's
Martini Modern Italian
Molly Woo's
Ocean Club
Ocean Prime
The Pearl
Prime Social Rooftop
SoCal Kitchen + Bar
Valentina's
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390 W. Nationwide Blvd.   |   Columbus, Ohio 43215   |   614.621.3663