Business Spotlight

Overeasy, Inc.

The inaugural Business Spotlight focuses on Mike and Jennifer Towles, owners of Tole House Café in Etiwanda, Corky’s Kitchen & Bakery in Rancho Cucamonga, and Guasti Homestyle Café in Chino. They were the Foothill Advertiser’s first client in our inaugural November 2001 issue, and have remained a loyal advertiser ever since!

We sat down for a chat with Mike recently:

Foothill Advertiser: How did you start in the restaurant business?

We actually started the Tole House here in the Von’s Shopping center 9 years ago. Both of us had been working for corporate America and decided that we wanted to get out of that environment and go to work for ourselves. I used to sell radio advertising in the high desert area, and decided that the breakfast business was a good one to be in. One of my clients owned the 3 Molly’s Country Kitchen locations in Victorville, Apple Valley and Hesperia, so I went and talked to him and he gave me some good advice. We opened up in March of 1999, and have just continued to grow since then.

What is the story behind Corky’s?

That name is from my late grandmother, and that’s her picture on the front of the menu. She passed away about 10 years ago. She was from Oklahoma, and was a heck of a cook – I learned quite a bit from her. We use her recipe for biscuits and gravy – that’s one of our biggest sellers.

All the coffee mugs at Corky’s and Guasti are different. What’s the story there?

We like to get local businesses to advertise by donating their promotional coffee mugs. People also come in and donate mugs they have collected from all over the country. So you never know what you’re going to get.

With a developer coming in to redevelop the Guasti Village area near the Ontario Airport, you were forced to move the Guasti Café to Chino in recent months. How has that move worked out?

It’s been phenomenal! We’re so busy we’ve found the parking to sometimes be a bit tight, and we’ve had about a 20 percent increase in sales compared to the old location. So it’s been a good move; we’re really excited about it. We were a little nervous at first, but being forced out has ended up being a great thing, plus, we own the building in Chino.

Are they leaving the old Guasti building, with its history?

No, it’s already been torn down, about three weeks now. It had a lot of history, but the building we’re in now actually is far older, built in 1923.

It’s so distinctive looking, almost like a castle with its unique masonry.

It was originally the home of the Gonzalez family, who was in the concrete fabrication business. They laid all the original sewer pipes for the city and the dairies, and they also made cement blocks, so they made their own custom blocks for the house. It’s a neat building, and it’s got a lot of character. We’ve made the various rooms into “theme” rooms, each with its own look - you’ve really got to see it!

How do you balance running 3 restaurants with a busy family life?

Luckily we’ve got a pretty good management team and staff, which helps take some of the pressure off. And we divvy up the various responsibilities – Jennifer oversees on Corky’s operations and I spend a lot of my time between the Tole House and Guasti Homestyle locations. And Jennifer is involved with the internal flow of bookkeeping and personnel, big facets of this business.

Some restaurants seem to have a large turnover of employees. How do your restaurants fare?

Actually, we have a very solid core staff. 80 to 90 percent of our employees have been with us for a long time. Since we opened Corky’s we still have pretty much all the original staff we hired. The same at Guasti – there have been people there since the early 80s, when it was the Homestyle Café.

Jennifer tells me you’re thinking about adding a lunch menu at Guasti Homestyle Café.

Yes, we’ve upgraded our equipment so that within the next month we’ll be able to offer lunch and breakfast items at all times.

Has Rancho Cucamonga been a good place to have your business and raise your family?

Absolutely! Rancho is a heck of a community, with great demographics. It’s a family town, and we’re a family restaurant, so it’s a perfect match.

How has advertising in the Foothill Advertiser benefited your business?

It’s been fantastic. That’s why we continue to keep using it – we’re getting a good return on our investment. It’s a good, quality magazine, it’s consistent. I believe in staying in the same publication so that people know where to look for you – they don’t have to keep looking all over the place to find your ad. Because of the Foothill Advertiser, we continue to keep growing.

What about the future? Do you plan any expansions?

We’re looking at two new locations, one in Rialto, near Riverside Ave. and the 210, and the other in south Ontario at Grove and the 60. The north end of Rialto holds a lot of promise for helping the city turn itself around, much the way Fontana did in developing its north end. South Ontario is also undergoing growth and improvement.