Being in the food business as a consultant to restaurants, we have an occupational hazard, which is gaining weight. So every morning I run about five miles and ride a bike about five miles, just to stay even. You’ve got to because we eat all day long.

I’m going to do a chocolate cake tasting at 2:30, that’s on top of the pastrami sandwich tasting, which was on top of the fried fish-and-chips we started at 10:30. My day starts at 5 o’clock in the morning and ends at 10 o’clock at night.

We have three kitchens and labs right in our office that are staffed by our professional culinarians and food technologists, and I take a look and review all of the production from the day before, because products that we worked on may have aged overnight.

I look at anything from gourmet chocolates to sauces to salad dressings to private label products for some of our clients. And then I leave them and start our corporate planning for the day. It’s a very interesting job because you get to talk a lot, eat a lot, and travel a lot.

Part of the day is consumed with tastings, part of the day is consumed with design and architectural meetings, and part of the day is consumed with reviewing trends so we can help our clients find products or services. On any given day, we might be tasting hamburgers for Jack in the Box, food products for Target, tacos for Rubio’s, or it could be ribs for Fire Dan’s in Orange County.

Then it could be doing things for some of our hotel clients over in Asia. It can be programming for the hotels, or even designing the hotels; we have an architecture and design department.

I went over with some purchasing agents of one of our clients on a trip to Asia where we were to take a look at the new restaurants we have just re-imaged for them. We wanted to purchase tables and chairs and all of the d & #233;cor items and so we wound up in Bali. Tough job. We were able to purchase teak wood furniture and all of the items of d & #233;cor.

Then we went to Jakarta, to the seafood packaging and distribution areas for purchasing shrimp and lobster. And then the next part was off to the Philippines; we met with some clients and sourced stainless steel and equipment managers. Then to Singapore and we were dealing with our clothing manufacturers for uniforms. The day consisted of meeting with artisans and craftsmen, trying to understand what they’re processing and if their volume capabilities will let them turn out enough for a major chain.

You can see it in a day or two and you can sign off on it and place an order, and in five to 12 weeks you have stuff delivered in the Port of Los Angeles.

This is a really tough business; there is a high failure rate because of the mistakes people make. They go in undercapitalized, when people decide they want to open up a restaurant because they think they’re a good cook or good with people. Or they just don’t understand how difficult the business is and how many hours it takes. That’s why we don’t do too many startups; we basically work with chains and larger companies. Running a restaurant is a way of life, not just another job.

As told to Bonnie Lee

Ed Engoron

President and Chief Executive

Perspectives/The Consulting Group Inc.

Resume:

Former motion picture and television director

Globetrotting:

Has been to 112 countries. Last year made seven trips to Asia.

Celebrity Contact:

Jimmy Buffet. “We work on all the Margaritaville restaurants.”

Entertainment:

Favorite television show is “Rome” on HBO.

Relaxation:

“Even though I’m involved in all the work I do here, cooking is an important part of what I do.”