ROANOKE, VA – When Garry Fleming opened Scrambled nearly ten years ago, he never imagined it would turn into one of Roanoke’s go-to brunch spots.
“To quote the Beatles, it was a long and winding road to get here, and do this. Totally unexpected, totally. And so my wife and I, we sort of learned as we went,” Fleming said.
Fleming tells us he considers Scrambled to be an ‘anchor’ of the City Market Building where they’re housed.
“It is the heart of Downtown Roanoke, this building is. It’s the center.”
But when COVID hit, Executive Director of the Market Building Foundation Elliot Broyles tells 10 News he didn’t know if the building could sustain itself.
“It put businesses out of business. The pandemic was tough for everybody but I think the hospitality industry was uniquely affected by that,” Broyles said.
Fleming was forced to shut down Scrambled for close to nine weeks, and wondered if they’d ever get back to normal. At the same time, businesses were closing left and right in the building.
But he said rent forgiveness they received made all the difference.
“We just kind of put our head down and worked really hard and it all worked out,” Fleming said.
For the first time in years, the Market Building is at 100% capacity.
And now, Broyles said they’re giving the interior a complete makeover, to give back to the businesses helping it thrive, and to invite more of Roanoke in.
Kevin Brown is the owner of Reggae Grub, a Jamaican Restaurant in the building, and says this all helps with his lifelong dream.
“Why not dream about it? Why not get it done?” Brown said.
He invited us into his kitchen to see all of the work that goes into owning a restaurant.
Brown wants a long future in the Market Building, and hopes the new look will allow even more people to enjoy the food he’s loved to cook since he lived in Jamaica as a child.
“Day by day we have new customers, repeat customers, and we get the support of the city, I get the support of all of my friends within the building,” Brown said.
The Market Building Foundation is still in the early stages of planning the renovations, but have already rebranded the building as a whole.