Johan Engman is the founder and CEO of Rise & Shine Hospitality Group, a restaurant company in Southern California focusing primarily on breakfast restaurants. Breakfast Republic, Fig Tree Cafe, Breakfast Company, Eggies and Feast & Fareway are among Rise & Shine Hospitality Group’s popular California eateries. Learn about Johan Engman…
Follow at: @johansadventures; @breakfastrepublic; @breakfastcompanysd; @figtreecafesd; @eggies; @feastandfarewaycoronado
Hometown: Östersund, Sweden
First job: Dishwasher
Favorite ways to spend your free time in CA: Being outside with my wife and two kids. That could be at a park, in the pool, at the beach or a number of other things.
Your biggest accomplishment and why: Not sure. I think my biggest accomplishment is still ahead of me.
The biggest obstacle you overcame: Opening my first restaurant during the 2008 recession…and surviving it.
Someone who inspires you and why: Marcus Aurelius. He was great leader, he tried to better himself on a daily basis (when he was already the most powerful person in the world at that time).
Advice to someone pursuing a career path in what you do: Do it because you want to provide real, genuine hospitality and because you have a passion for it.
Favorite quote: “Every adversity, every failure, every heartbreak, carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit” – Napoleon Hill
“It is not in our control to have everything turn out exactly as we want, but it is in our control to control how we respond to what happens” – Epictetus
Something someone would be surprised to learn about you: I’m introverted. I avoid mingling and “networking”-type of situations at all costs.
What makes someone fabulous: Being bold and brave enough to be themselves and not a version of themselves that society may want them to be.