Paul Fleming isn’t a shy guy. But he’s not likely to thrust himself into the spotlight, either.
He listens more than he talks and pays attention to the people and things around him, looking for the real deal: What’s going to move the needle? Who is doing things for the right reasons?
The Louisiana oil man-turned-restaurateur has built a culinary empire that includes dozens of concepts and restaurants nationwide (you know them well—P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Pei Wei Asian Diner, Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, Lake Park Diner) over nearly four decades. While each venture has partners, Paul remains hands-on. Walk with him into Lake Park Diner or Fleming’s in Naples, and you’ll see him greet staff by name and ask about their families and recent vacations. Visit the test kitchen for his upcoming PJK Neighborhood Chinese, and he’ll invite you to join the staff in sampling contenders for the menu over a Yuengling.
His businesses are built on Southern values cultivated growing up in Louisiana with a farmer grandfather and a dad who was a lawyer and judge. The Fleming family fished, hunted and ate with the seasons. “When tomatoes were ripe, we ate tomatoes; when cucumbers, or spinach, or whatever was growing—that’s what we ate. We ate quail, duck,” he says. “I didn’t know any of that was unusual.” It was natural that in 1993, when he developed P.F. Chang’s with the help of Philip Chiang (son of the Chinese-American food pioneer Cecilia Chiang), the menus were filled with fresh vegetables, free-range chicken and homemade sauces—practices that were still rather novel then.
He cultivates employees that stay on for decades and can earn a stake in the business. The Lake Park Diner chef oversaw Fleming’s before coming over to build the fledgling local chain that will soon include a Bonita Springs location. The chef who will lead the kitchen at the PJK Neighborhood Chinese—an elevated version of P.F. Chang’s, debuting on Fifth Avenue South—has been with Paul for 20 years.
When it comes to giving back, he’s naturally inclined toward feeding people. He likes to give where he can see tangible results and finds that locally in Naples Children & Education Foundation, which he’s supported for 15 years and has been a trustee with his wife, Jody, for the past five years. In San Francisco, Paul and Jody helped overhaul the soup kitchen at GLIDE to feed 2,000 people a day. He’s also supported NCH Healthcare System, where Lake Park Diner kept workers fed with a steady rotation of healthy meals through critical points of the pandemic. “We did it because it was the right thing to do,” he says.
He likes to be boots-on-the-ground h elp: “You can learn what the real issues are and who’s legit.” Ear lier this year, Paul joined celebrity chef José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen effort on the Poland-Ukrainian border to feed refugees. “They let me clean up a lot,” Paul says, adding that he was primarily on trash duty. It was a throwback to a job in high school at a burger joint, where there was a hierarchy of responsibilities. “The furthest I got was putting the French fries in the bag,” he recalls.
He’s happy to go where he’s needed. A few years ago, af ter reading a front-page news story about Sister Judy Dohner of Our Lady of Guadalupe and their soup kitchen’s broken kettle, he went out to Immokalee to meet the nun. She was instrumental in growing the Guadalupe Center education nonprofit in the ’80s. He helped replace the kettle, donated other kitchen supplies and has remained close with Sister Judy since, heeding her advice on how he can best assist. Lately, that’s meant driving over with 3,000-to-4,000 diapers a month. “The thing about Paul is that he doesn’t just write a check,” Sister Judy says. —Stephanie Granada