High school dropout turned restaurant mogul Cameron Mitchell, of Mitchell’s/Columbus Fish Market and Mitchell’s/Cameron’s Steakhouse (sold to Ruth’s Hospitality Group for $92 million), details his journey from the lazy cook in the kitchen to one of the hardest working restaurateurs, reports Fast Casual.

In his keynote speech at this year’s North American Pizza and Ice Cream Show in Columbus, Ohio, Mitchell outlines his priorities when he first started his own restaurant group back in 1992. He explained the importance of first highlighting the company culture and values. “There are two components to opening a successful restaurant,” Mitchell claims. “Number one is having a good strategy. I made  a lot of mistakes, but I surrounded myself with smart people. Number two— the most important piece— is the company’s culture and values.” His core values are:

Two core values:

1. The associates come first. Mitchell says, “The guest is not the most important to us. I know this isn’t our industry standard way of thinking, but I will tell you in my business we take care of our people. It’s a triangular effect. If we take care of our associates, they take care of our guests, and our guests will take care of our company,” Mitchell said, adding there are “programs and policies” in place to reinforce this value every day.
2. The answer is always yes. Mitchell’s company’s training policy declares, “The answer is yes is the backbone of our company.” The story that inspired him to ingrain this value is the time is son ordered a milkshake and both the server and manager said “no.” In response, Mitchell ordered a chocolate milk and a la mode ice cream and requested they be blended together.