After nearly 40 years deep in the hurly-burly of the restaurant business, Cameron Mitchell says he’s looking to pass the baton within his 36-unit company and focus on what he calls the two esses: strategy and stewardship.

“I’m getting old. I tell people my ‘low-fuel light’ is on,” the 57-year-old founder and CEO of Columbus, Ohio-based Cameron Mitchell Restaurants said with a laugh. “I use the term: ‘I’m in the fourth quarter of my career.’”

During a conversation at the debut of a $2 million renovation of the Dallas Ocean Prime restaurant, Mitchell reflected on this dish room-to-boardroom story.