The Johnson House Restaurant has been a landmark at 19 South Main Street in Churchville for generations. Loyal customers flock to the family owned steakhouse for both its fine quality food and its cozy and friendly atmosphere.
Peggy Naughton and her late husband, Michael, purchased the Johnson House in 1977. “Business is excellent 37 years later,” Peggy says.
The establishment is housed in a brick building constructed as a hotel in 1885 and which also served as a stage coach stop at one time, Peggy says. The main floor features banquet, private party and meeting rooms and the lower level features the lounge and open hearth grill. V.I.P. Caterers, which Peggy started nearly 30 years ago, offers full service catering for banquets, corporate events, weddings and special occasions.
Q: How did you come to own the Johnson House?
The Naughtons had no previous experience running a restaurant when Mike brought Peggy to the Johnson House to celebrate her birthday.
“I had never had a drink in my life,” she says. Bill McCombs, who owned the restaurant at the time, chatted with the couple at the bar and casually suggested, “You ought to buy the place,” Peggy remembers.
She took it as a joke, but Michael, a contractor, found the idea appealing, telling Peggy that continuing in his physically demanding job would get more difficult as he got older.
The couple had eight children, and all have worked at the restaurant over the years, Peggy says. Eleven of her 19 grandchildren “have also gone through the ranks,” at the Johnson House, she adds. One of Peggy’s daughters and two grand-daughters continue to help out, particularly on weekends.
Q: Why has the Johnson House remained successful for so long?
“We have tremendous repeat clientele,” Peggy explains. “They come from all over the area. We are booked out every Friday and Saturday. Repeat customers are the backbone of every good business.”
Peggy says her regular clientele are especially important in today’s business climate, particularly with the growth in restaurant chains.
She works hard to connect with her customers and is “on the floor” every night interacting with diners.
“We know where our regular customers want to sit and what they want to drink,” Peggy says. “We’re able to stay on top of things. (At chain restaurants) there’s no one to welcome you.”
Clientele also enjoy music on the baby grand piano every Friday and Saturday night, Peggy notes.
Q: What makes the Johnson House so special?
“We offer good food at reasonable prices and good drinks at reasonable prices,” Peggy explains. “There is an ambience when you come down.”
The Johnson House offers an extensive menu with specialty drinks, a Friday Fish Fry as well as steaks, chicken and seafood including chateaubriand steak, lamb chops, frog legs, and the ever popular broiled seafood platter. Each entree comes with a salad and potato.
“We take great pride in the authenticity of our food,” Peggy says. “We have the open charcoal hearth … you can watch your dinner prepared in front of you.”
Q: What about the future of the business?
About ten years ago, one of Peggy’s sons called her from Singapore, where he was living at that time, and offered to buy the Johnson House, saying he could run the business from there.
Peggy told him she would sell it for, “one million dollars,” and the two agreed that, “he would call me again in ten years,” Peggy says.
They did just that recently while vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard and Peggy says (tongue-in-cheek) that this time, they decided on a 20-year plan, with her son telling her, “then you will only be 98 when you retire,” she says.
“As long as I am healthy and my mind is still with me, I will keep going,” she says. “I’ve worked since I was six. I don’t know what it’s like not to be busy.”
Note: Check current hours by calling The Johnson House, 293-1111, V.I.P. Catering, 293-1112.
Printed November 2, 2014
