Chef Spotlight - Mike Lonteen, C.E.C.
Vice President of Research & Development - Custom Culinary, Inc.

• Years in the Food Industry: 31+                                 
• Residence: Akron, OH                           
• Memberships: Research Chefs Association; American Culinary Federation     
• Recognition: Achieved Certified Executive Chef, 1990          

Q. Where do you get your inspiration?
A. My father. From the time I was seven or eight years old, he told me, “You gotta work.” My work ethic comes from him.

Q. What's your favorite food?
A. Veal Oscar. Crabmeat, asparagus, hollandaise… all those things that are bad for you, but I love it.

Q. What's the best advice you have ever received? 
A. My dad told me, “Always understand that you don’t know it all. And if you get around someone that knows more than you do, learn everything you can from them!

Q. What’s always in your pantry?
A. French Vanilla flavored coffee. And I’m definitely a Diet Coke-aholic. I call it “the golden juice.”

“I guess I’ve done just about everything, for everybody,” says Mike Lonteen, the new head of the Custom Culinary® R&D effort. “I’ve had a fantastic amount of opportunity in my career.”

That career started young. “My dad was a chef,” Lonteen recalls, “and when I was just eight or nine years old he’d bring me around to his jobs. I’d do little things to help him—wash dishes, plate food for his catering jobs. It was kind of a treat.”

At the tender age of 13, Lonteen got his first job, as a dishwasher at a local country club, but it wasn’t long before the executive chef pulled him aside and asked him if he wanted to learn how to cook. “In the three years I spent working with that chef, I must have learned about 80% of what I still do today,” he says, “from how to be part of a team, to the best way to make a french fry.”

When his mentor left to start his own restaurant, Lonteen was named executive chef of the country club and he spent the next five years tag-teaming there and at other area restaurants. “Boy, those 80- or 90-hour work weeks, though; they’re killers,” says Lonteen. At 26, with a wife and second child on the way, he went to Akron University to get a food science degree, and started learning the technical side of the business. “I really enjoyed developing recipes and new types of applications for my customers.  My dream was to find out what life was like on the other side,” he laughs. His first job in the industry entailed a significant cut in pay, “but it was a great starting point to learn about the vast variety of ingredients out there, and to hone my analytical skills in the quality assurance discipline.”

An itch for new challenges eventually brought Lonteen to L.J. Minor, where he specialized in developing custom products for chain clients, before moving into national accounts. Along the way, he worked with both Dr. L.J. Minor and Mike Minor, as well as dozens of different R&D and sales groups. He forged relationships that would allow him to set up his own sauce and culinary flavor systems manufacturer—DM Foods, in Avon, Ohio —with L.J. Minor scion Dorsey Fields.

By the time Custom Culinary, Inc., acquired DM Foods in November 2005, the company was known for its customer-centric approach to custom manufacturing, a philosophy that Lonteen looks forward to expanding with the resources of Custom Culinary, Inc., behind him. “I am proud of my career, but have a lot left to do,” he explains. “The synergies and enhanced capabilities derived through the acquisition provide me with a tremendous opportunity to take the combined organization forward. The best part of this for me is that I get to leverage a unique team of Sales, Marketing, Culinary, and R&D professionals to benefit our customers.”