Kitchen comradery drives Don Cameron to five decades of success

"I have three loves," Mr Cameron said.

"I have my family, of course. Then I have my learned skills, which are cooking - as in hospitality, as in restaurateur these days - and the land. Farming is deep in my soul."

In a career spanning 50 years in the industry, the owner of Mudbar Restaurant and Blue Inc Cafe isn't taking his foot off the gas.

There is still room for firsts in his career after he decided to temporarily shut Mudbar for two weeks in the middle of this year for a transformation.

"We've set quite a few trends over the last 20 or 30 years in Tasmania, that comes back to me," Mr Cameron said.

"That's what we do. We provide exciting, delicious food. Not every restaurant has delicious food.

"Our biggest goal is to create a memorable experience. Our biggest goal is of course to have people come back and enjoy what it is we do.

"In order to do that, you have to be damn good at it.

"We're on an island and so we have to work harder because we strive for repeat customers."

He said the reason behind Mudbar's success was his staff were "prepared to give extra of themselves".

"It's quite a wonderful experience for me to sit in this restaurant when it's really busy and it's going flat out," he said.

"And staff are smiling and happy and working and enjoying every second of it. It's the reason that I keep doing what I do."

Mr Cameron started out in hospitality after his dad said a job was going in the kitchen of a hotel in Burnie.

"I said 'I'm not washing up'," he said.

"Anyway, I went there and they looked after me. I started in Burnie and ended up at Wrest Point very quickly.

"It was about the camaraderie in the kitchen, it's very addictive and they accepted me as I was and I loved it. And so began a love affair."

The restaurateur has gone on to build an impressive resume, which includes Launceston fine dining experiences Stillwater and Black Cow, Tidal Water at St Helens and the Ploughman Restaurant at Ulverstone in the first instance in the 1980s.

"I'm Tasmanian and I'm proud of it. This has provided me with a fantastic life," Mr Cameron said.

"I suppose you could say I have given meals to the people, which is true but I get rewarded in spade for a wonderful job in Tasmania."

He said working in a kitchen or on service was an "addictive process" and "adrenaline punch".

The kitchen is a place young people can find acceptance, no matter their initial knowledge about food, he said.

"It's a real hook in for young people that want a career that's exciting," he said.

"If they're driven to some sort of success or profession, this is just the perfect outlet for them."

Mr Cameron said he had people in their early 20's working at his restaurant picking careers in the industry "because they love it and it's different every day".

Fine dining has morphed into a lesser product over the decades, but still with the same level of care, Mr Cameron said.

"The emotional care a waiter has with their customer you won't get in Melbourne or Sydney," he said.

"Because here we have, we certainly do at Mudbar, we have people who care about their customer, they care about their job. This is not common.

"If you don't have an emotional exchange with our waiter, you're just having dinner."

He said that growth was reflected in their staff onboarding and training.

The most recent change has arrived following Mudbar's renovations earlier this year.

The modern Asian twist restaurant has not only added a scullery to expand the cooking area, but expanded its wine cellar.

Now with a dry ager on public display, Mr Cameron said they were the first Tasmanian restaurant to do so.

"The best food comes from caring for the best produce from seedling to plate," he said.

Acknowledging his probably a perfectionist, Mr Cameron said he doesn't do things in halves.

"It has never been in my modus operandi to just go to work to do stuff," he said.

"I've never thought of making money, I think of making a really nice plate of food."