Who’s Who in Sonoma: Margie Tosch-Brooke

Margie Brooke's life has been spent in or around the food industry since she landed her first job at a Greek bakery at 14.  A natural entrepreneur, in her earlier days Margie started a dessert supply business, a catering route, and opened 2 Seattle area restaurants. Moving outside of operations, Margie spent time recruiting for the restaurant & wine industry, first at a national recruiting company, then with a Seattle based restaurant chain, finally founding Outside the Lines, Inc. and creating a recruiting website for the industry, WineAndHospitalityJobs.com in 1999. 

WineAndHospitalityNetwork.com, a business & social networking site for industry professionals, followed in 2008. Margie’s latest creation, Community Café, came out of growing side business in catering. Community Café serves fresh and delicious breakfast & lunch dishes in a casual environment, 7 days a week.

Sonoma Patch: How long have you lived in Sonoma?

Margie: I’ve been in Sonoma since 1999. I grew up in Torrance, CA, then spent three years in Austin, TX and 16 years in the Seattle area.

SP: How did the Wine and Hospitality Network(WHN) come about?

Margie: It came about just as social media was taking off. It was an addition to my job site, WineAndHospitalityJobs.com(called WineCountryJobs.com by many locals – the name it was originally launched as).

SP:  You also have Outside the Lines. Where does that fit into things?

Margie: Su Pinney and I both left our jobs at Cucina! Cucina!, Inc (in Seattle) at the same time to start Outside the Lines (OTL), a wine and hospitality consulting business. I was the company recruiter and Su was director of training. OTL was named such because we both saw how many people in the industry set up systems the same way they did in previous companies, rather than look at each unique environment. Think outside the lines.

SP: What landed you here?

Margie: I knew that I wanted to live here from the first time I visited. I stayed for one night at the Sonoma hotel and loved the plaza. I have visited so many places, and while each is lovely in its own way, Sonoma is truly special. I don’t think I could ever live in a city again!

SP: What was the inspiration behind your new restaurant, Community Café?

Margie: I had two restaurants in the Seattle area and loved the business. My husband Willy and I had begun doing some catering four or five years ago, and as that kind of thing has a tendency to, it began to grow. What started as helping a friend or two with a party became bigger and bigger. It was time to step it up or shut it down!

SP: So you stepped it up.

Margie: We started looking for a space and after about six months sealed the deal on the Mondo location.

SP: How much of the business is catering?

Margie: We started by doing catering, so it continues to be a major focus of the business. Opening a restaurant is pure craziness, especially a new concept with all new people. We’re open seven days a week, so no one was getting much rest in the beginning.  But now we’re getting multiple catering requests each week.

SP: Do you do events at the restaurant as well as other places?

Margie:  Yes! It’s a unique venue for a fun, casual celebration for a birthday, anniversary or whatever you’re celebrating.

SP: How do you juggle so many businesses?

Margie: It’s tough. I try to spend a little time on everything almost every day. And the animals need attention too!

SP: What do you do in your spare time?

Margie: Spare time? Are you kidding? Ha! I spend time reading every day, and walking or biking with my dogs.  In the little time I have I practice flying trapeze up at Sam Keen’s ranch, which is also where I keep my horses. Three other lovely trapeze ladies and I also rent a small cabin from Sam, so it’s my getaway that feels like it’s far, far away.