Jodie Roquemore enjoys people. That is a good thing, because on June 27, the owner of Jodie’s Cafe and Bakery on Route One, Wiscasset bought the longtime Sarah’s Cafe property on Water Street. Roquemore, of Edgecomb, confirmed the sale’s closing happened that day. Wiscasset Newspaper reported recently on the planned sale with Sarah Heald retiring and Roquemore as the property’s buyer with plans to move her business into it. 

“I’m very excited. This is a big step, it’s huge,” Roquemore, 46, said in a breakfast time interview at the Route One eatery. The Water Street location “is going to be on a lot bigger scale than here. It’s going to be a huge challenge, and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.” For one thing, she looks forward to the larger kitchen. 

An opening date will be announced for the Water Street eatery, name to be determined. Check Jodie’s Cafe and Bakery’s Facebook page for updates.

Roquemore bought the Route One site in November 2021, remodeled it and then opened it in May 2022. In a new interview there, the Virginia-born, Georgia-raised Roquemore recalled it was her first “brick and mortar” business, after working in restaurants in the South and selling jewelry and more online. She recalled no big surprises in the eatery’s first year, just the hard work she expected it would be. “I’m a ‘roll with the punches’ kind of person. I try to be, ‘It is what it is.’ So I don’t get super upset about things (and) I try not to stress.”

It was not always that way. She used to stress over things when she was younger, to the point it would keep her up at night. She put in “a lot of hard work and self-awareness.” Between that and just age, she said, “I’ve learned there’s things I can’t do anything about and there’s no point in stressing over them.”

The business has become what she hoped and more, she said. “What we’ve built here is like a little family,” including the patrons. “They’re my people now. I love talking with them and getting to know all the people in the community, and surrounding communities because we have a lot of people who come from out of town, too.”

She and husband Jim moved to Maine because they wanted four seasons and less crime. The couple have six children, ages 8 to 23. Jim and some other family members help at the restaurant; the couple’s youngest two children are homeschooled.

Roquemore knew the Route One business would need to either move or expand, including expanding the kitchen. So when Sarah’s was on the market and it would also mean being on the waterfront, Roquemore recalled, “I said ‘We’ve got to do it.’” She has been looking forward to the location. “I like being on the water, I like being on a boat and I love looking at water, I love the way it smells. So I’m really excited about that.”

The move from Route One to Water Street will at least double the business’s seating, Roquemore said. So she expects to add to her current staff of about 10. 

Julie Bellefleur is Jodie’s Cafe and Bakery’s manager and baker and handles the catering. She thinks the new location will be “a lot of fun and obviously a lot more work, as a bigger place. We’re going to have our old following, but still people are going to remember Sarah’s and they’re going to be looking to come back there. So I think we’ll do well there.” 

Bellefleur’s 40-plus-year career has included being a head chef, pastry chef, and caterer and she had a restaurant at a golf course until the pandemic hit “and I lost my help.” She then missed being out working with people, and husband Ray encouraged her to talk with Roquemore, who was working toward opening the Route One business. “So we got together and just really connected,” said Bellefleur. “I really enjoy her as a person, and she’s wonderful to work with,” Bellefleur, of Newcastle, added. 

Noting Sarah’s Cafe’s longtime support to the community, Roquemore said, “I hope to carry on a lot of that, with my own personal flair.” And as she said Heald and her crew did and as Roquemore and crew have done on Route One, Roquemore plans for “everybody to feel welcome” when they come to her new location. “I try to have a homy environment and a place people feel comfortable hanging out.”

What will the menu be? Roquemore expects to keep some things her Route One location has offered and “definitely the crab cakes” Sarah’s is known for. The menu will probably be a mix of what both eateries have offered, she said.