FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Businesses come and go in any town, but restaurants are notorius for folding, sometimes even before the grill gets hot. Not so for Filet, a comfortable steakhouse just off Greeno Road in Fairhope. Owner and chef Steve Anderson has kept the flame burning there for nearly nine years.

“I owned a restaurant in the Florida Keys named Snorkels, then moved to New Orleans and opened a French restaurant owned by one of the Brennans,” he said. “I also did consulting work in Memphis before moving here.”

Anderson served for a time as personal chef for Stephen C. Hilbert, the co-founder, chairman and CEO of Conseco Inc., an insurance and investment firm. During the nearly five years he worked for Hilbert, he cooked for notables such as Steve Forbes and Donald Trump.

He moved to Fairhope in 1998 to be near his aging parents, and on Sept. 9, 1999, he opened Filet. Its sister restaurant, Fly Creek Café, opened for business the following day.

“My mom and dad live here, and I had ended up cooking for John Wellington in West Palm Beach, Fla.,” Anderson said. “At their age, I decided to open up a restaurant and stay here.”

The Ohio native, who had moved to Illinois with his parents at age 6 before attending high school in New Jersey, leased a storefront in Plantation Pointe Shopping Center, gutted it and started from scratch.

Anderson said, “There’s a restaurant in Metarie (La.) named Crazy Johnnie’s that serves filet and artichoke hearts. I liked their concept.” So he started with $100,000 to expand on that idea, but had to draw from his credit cards to get more cash to finish the job.

With his mother and father helping him, Anderson spent eight months renovating the space. A licensed electrician and plumber were the only workers he hired.

But why put a nice restaurant in a strip mall? Isn’t that a business risk? No, Anderson contends. He said, “It’s hard parking downtown, and rent is also a factor down there.”

Restaurants are commonly found in strip malls across Florida, according to Anderson. The location has been good to him, he added.

Filet debuted with N.Y. strip and T-bone steaks on the menu, along with Porterhouse sandwiches. Anderson said he’s expanded the offerings there upon request ever since.

“Everyone had to come check me out because I was the only restaurant in Baldwin County in a strip mall,” he said with a smile. “Everyone thought you had to be downtown. It was all word of mouth. I was flat broke when I opened this place.”

Anderson said more than 40 businesses and restaurants have opened and closed in the city of Fairhope since he has lived here. He said chain restaurants such as Ruby Tuesday and Burger King are his biggest competition because they are so well known. Independent eateries seem to help each other grow, however.

Case in point: Tokyo Hibachi & Sushi, which opened next door to Filet in a space once occupied by a Hallmark greeting card store. He said, “The Japanese restaurant increased business. More restaurants in one area increases business.”

Anderson graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. in 1987. He noted the best business advice he ever received was from Hilbert, who said, “If you ever want to make $1 million in the restaurant business, start with $2 million, and when you get down to $1 million, you’re a millionaire.”

A good business plan boils down to three things, Anderson said, — cash flow, experience and location.

“I’ve had this place sold three times, but it fell through,” he said. Each time the prospective buyer failed to come up with all the cash and lost their escrow money.

Anderson added, “I hope to eventually sell both of these restaurants, move to the Bahamas and open a small burger shack on one of the small islands there. Bahama beer and burgers, good sunsets and a breeze off the ocean. That’s my 10-year plan.”

Certainly the restaurant has seen leaner times, but one could now consider the business well done. Anderson is sometimes surprised by its popularity.

“Out of all the items on my menu, I put out more hamburgers than I imagined,” he said. Anderson enjoys a tender steak, however. He pointed out, “I love a good ribeye because it’s got all that fat in there.”