PRESTON – Ian Fleming seems to have found his ideal lifestyle.
He and Elinor, his wife of 38 years, moved to Preston nearly four years ago to live in a stately Main Street home next to their daughter, her husband and their children. Living in the small town has been a great experience for the three generations,
“I was thinking about retiring because I just sold the Robert Morris Inn in Oxford,” Fleming said. “I realized that wasn't going to work, and so I looked at a few buildings in town here, and eventually settled on this one,” the former Katie Mae’s at 201 Main Street.
The Roadhouse Bar & Grill sits on the second busiest road in Caroline County in the heart of Preston. The Preston Roadhouse Facebook page welcomes visitors to the place “where the open road meets mouthwatering flavors and good ol’ fashioned hospitality.”
“I swore when I sold the Robert Morris Inn I would never open another restaurant,” Fleming said. “They're hard work. They're really hard work, and they're very hard to make profitable, and I've been doing it my entire life, so people need to trust me when I say that. But if you do know what you're doing you can make it work.”
A diverse local clientele, including folks from Talbot County and Delaware, appreciate the fare. “It has performed better than anticipated, and people have received it a little better than anticipated, but I think that's because the demographic has changed, and I've been very grateful for people's enthusiasm,” he said.
The décor is streamlined and the colors are earth-toned. Pops of color are dotted in the eclectic assortment of vintage transportation collectibles Fleming brings back from auctions.
“But first and foremost, people enjoy the food,” he said.
“The key is real food, cooked to order, simply plated,” he said. His four chefs serve “homestyle, inexpensive midweek specials like meatloaf, shepherd’s pie. It sells out every time.”
“Simpler staples” are popular, like the daily lunch special of a cup of soup, half sandwich and hand-cut, twice-fried fries, but “we sell an enormous number of steaks,” Fleming said
Weekends feature more expensive fare for those in the mood to splurge on New Zealand lamb, hotel sized soft crabs or calamari. Cocktails are popular – especially a local favorite, Orange Crush.
“What a gem for Preston!” one customer posted. “Great food, great staff, great owners and such a great addition to our community,” said another.
Helping to drive the “great food, great memories” objective is a “great team” who uses technology throughout the customer’s experience.
“The technology we use means that our staff all have pads to take to the table, so when the customer orders at the table it gets fired straight at the kitchen; they don't have to go to a terminal somewhere else and input it all,” he said. On the same electronic pad, diners can sign up for loyalty points, buy gift cards, and vote on their food.
Even as Fleming and his team were renovating the building for three months, they shared their progress during those three months with the community through social media. The strategy built a potential clientele of 3,500 followers by opening day, July 1. By mid-October, the site had garnered 2,500 likes and 96% of diners recommended the restaurant.
“I wouldn't have done this if I didn't have this team to put straight into play,” Fleming said. “You have to have good people.”
On the “Preston Roadhouse” Facebook page, Fleming also shares posts of other Preston businesses, including Country Treasures antique store across the street, Preston Automotive Group and LNT Seafood.
Fleming, 62, has enjoyed an enviable career as an award-winning restauranteur both on the Eastern Shore and internationally. His career in hospitality began in his teens as a dishwasher. “I’ve had a very good career, very weird career,” he said. “But hospitality can afford tremendous opportunities for people who are energized and ambitious. Actually, our business can be very lucrative and exciting and create great opportunities.”
He worked in war-torn Croatia, in the West Indies and for families in the Great Britain who owned castles, but needed capable managers to “rejuvenate” their family hospitality enterprise.
He also managed “all the Thatcher business.”
“So, when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, I would get all that business to manage,” he said. He worked with Thatcher’s children, “hosting lots of dinner parties, overnight stays – that was exciting. And it was good to be able to liaise and work with people at that level, who were actually very down-to-earth. Margaret Thatcher was incredibly down-to-earth. Absolutely no interest in airs and graces, very easy to work with.”
“I've had an amazing career, and I don't really think about it, but then I don't use the past tense either. It's a journey,” Fleming said. “So, I'm very excited – as long as it's health to do it – to see what the next 10 years will do.”
“I just love taking chances, just love rebuilding things,” he said. “When I put the Robert Morris Inn up for sale, I was actually terrified, because the prospect of retirement suddenly loomed. It was very liberating when I realized (retirement) was stupid idea.”
“I just love the challenge of creating something. It's very energizing. It's what keeps me young,” Fleming said.
Fleming is satisfied with size and atmosphere of the Roadhouse. “This is this is great, and we're never going to expand this, never going to change this. I'm very happy with how it looks and how it feels,” he said.
When, as a young manager he and his young family moved here in 1989, Fleming “really fell in love with the Eastern Shore immediately.”
“We love walking, boating, fishing, coming originally from Scotland,” he said. “These are things that we love and enjoy. These things are very accessible here.”
“We enjoy the slightly slower pace of life that we find here, and the more conservative approach to life, too,” Fleming said. “I thought I was a conservative until I came here. Then I realized I was scratching the surface of conservatism, but we kind of like that.”
I lived and worked in Europe for years,” he said. “Europe always seems to be in a race to modernize. … I don't get it. I never got it. I find this, for sure, very traditional and very comfortable.”
The Flemings’ son and 10-year-old granddaughter, who live in Scotland, always returns to the U.S. for Halloween. “It’s her favorite holiday. The UK – with a breakdown in communities – there really isn't any celebration for those holidays anymore. So, my granddaughter just loves coming here, dressing up for Halloween, going around to all the houses.”
As for the other three grandchildren, who are two, five and 10 years old, Fleming admitted the reason he and Elinor moved to Preston was “basically to bribe our children so that we got more of our grandchildren. So, we actually upsized, bought a six-bedroom house – with a swimming pool, gym and all the rest of it – to bribe the grandchildren.”
The plan “worked perfectly, because they love to spend time in our house,” Fleming said, smiling.