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Chef Jonathon Sawyer is as passionate about Cleveland as he is about his restaurants. That's one reason he chose to be on the new "Cleveland Hustles" reality series.

(James Douglas Studios)

PREVIEW

What: Reality show created by LeBron James and Maverick Carter that teams Cleveland business leaders with local entrepreneurs.

When: 10 p.m. Wednesdays

Where: CNBC

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland chef Jonathon Sawyer is riding his scooter on the Shoreway when he answers the phone and pulls over.

Sawyer was on his way between his corporate office on East 55th Street and his lauded Greenhouse Tavern on East Fourth Street.

"Even if it's a couple extra minutes to go this way, I love to see the lake. It's wonderful. It reminds you why we live in Cleveland," says Sawyer.

It's a telling comment from the James Beard award-winning chef, owner of the Greenhouse Tavern, Noodlecat and Trentina in University Circle. He's as passionate about his hometown as he is about his restaurants.

"Being a line cook in Miami and hearing people dog your hometown, you never forget that," says the Strongsville native. "Promoting Cleveland is very important to me. When we announced the Greenhouse Tavern, it was very important for us that it was in downtown Cleveland."

Sawyer's drive to promote Cleveland is one reason he chose to be a mentor/investor on the new "Cleveland Hustles" reality show that premieres Wednesday, Aug. 24 on CNBC. The show follows his recent appearance on the Food Network's "Chopped Grill Masters."

"Cleveland Hustles," produced by LeBron James and Maverick Carter, teams four Cleveland business leaders with entrepreneurs looking to launch their own stores in the Gordon Square Arts District. The other mentor-investors are Kumar Arora, CEO of Aroridex, Ltd.; Kathy Futey, a Certified Private Wealth Advisor; and Alan Glazen, Founder of GlazenUrban, LLC/Neighborhood Developer and owner of the ABC and XYZ Taverns.

"This is one of the best platforms Cleveland will have to put itself on the national map, to highlight and inspire more people to move their businesses to Cleveland," says Sawyer.

"This is great for the city, not just people involved in the show."

Appearing on "Cleveland Hustles" dovetails with Sawyer's three-fold business: the restaurants, the vinegar, pretzels and other products and a consulting business. He employs 280 people.

"We're really good at helping young companies and entrepreneurs focus where they most need to," says Sawyer.

He is currently engaged in one of his largest consulting projects, curating the food and beverage lineup for the upcoming Van Aken District in Shaker Heights, set to be complete in spring 2018. That includes several full service restaurants, a food hall with 20 stalls and his own restaurant.

"I live in the area, and it needs a downtown district," says Sawyer. "It is one of our most ambitious projects yet. We're making sure we have a very compelling, modern district over the next 30 years."

Sawyer is not worried the recent closings of some high profile restaurants in Cleveland signals the market has reached a saturation point.

"At the end of the day, we're talking about a business that is more than $600 billion in America annually. We're on an increase. Only 30 percent of restaurants are owner-operated - that's not that much of the pie. There is plenty of room to grow."

To that end, Sawyer reveals he has recently signed a lease for a new space on the west side, which along with the Van Aken project will be his second restaurant outside of the city.

"Amelia and I grew up in Strongsville and the west side is near and dear to our hearts," he says of his wife of 10 years and business partner.

Sawyer, who works seven shorter days a week and makes a point to not leave home before his children wake up and be home every evening for family time, isn't worried about over-extending himself.

"We have great employees. We're only as good as our last bowl of pasta, and I'm not cooking pasta anymore. The team is really the one who drives our success. My role has changed from month to month and year to year.

"My goal is to foster my staff and encourage them every single day. But at the end of the day the bar will never be set higher than by me, and there will never be a point where I am satisfied by anything I do."

Sawyer is almost overdue to open a new restaurant, he says. "Greenhouse was eight years ago, Noodlecat five, and Trentina was three years ago."

But the project has to be right. "I've said 'no' much more than I've said 'yes.' That was one of the most important pieces of advice Charlie Palmer gave me," he says of his mentor at New York's Kitchen 22.

Despite his many awards and successful ventures, Sawyer still approaches his cooking with the same passion as when he was working with Palmer a decade ago.

"As a chef, you never stop learning. I consume a ton of information on a daily basis as part of my job, reading and listening to 70 magazines or podcasts. I try to stay ahead of the curve in terms of trends."

He's trendsetter, but one who still listens to his customers.

"Five years ago, ramen noodles were foreign to Cleveland," he says of Noodlecat's opening. "Now there are three other places doing them. But when Noodlecat opened, it was pretty hardcore Japanese. As we learned, we moved to more of a Japanese-American aspect. We're adept at changing our formula on a day-to-day basis to give customers what they want."

"Jonathon Sawyer is an excellent businessman with excellent taste. The quality he has in his food is the quality we want in our products," says Jackie Wachter of Fount leather goods, one of eight contestants mentored on "Cleveland Hustles." She said the filming process was transformative for the business she co-owns with husband Phillip, and thinks it will be for the city, too.

So does Sawyer.

"We saw what Cleveland could do with the RNC and the Championship Parade. People said there's no way the city can pull this off without something happening," he says. "We proved everybody wrong. This show is another example of our hardworking, middle-American ethic."

One of Cleveland's hardest-working, and most creative, residents should know.