Kevin O’Mara was never interested in climbing the corporate ladder.

Instead, “I wanted to make my own ladder,” said O’Mara, a scientist, restaurateur and health food devotee.

And he’s done just that, by running his own environmental- and product-testing laboratory for more than three decades, practicing yoga and clean eating that he says is adding life to his years, and building a successful restaurant that’s become a fixture in central Berkley over the last quarter century.