By: Community Magazine | March 6, 2024 | , Dining , Philanthropy |
BY: Jeanne Wall, Publisher and Editor, TAPinto Holmdel, Colts Neck & Middletown | Sign-up for free daily online news for Holmdel & Colts Neck at TAPinto.net/enews | PHOTO CREDIT: Carmela Caracappa
Whether you live at the beach or only indulge in day trips, chances are you’ve eaten in one of Marilyn Schlossbach’s restaurants.
Most in our area know the Executive Chef, Owner, and CEO of The Marilyn Schlossbach Group from her legendary status in the local dining scene, but her commitment to our community is something that often goes quietly unnoticed. Something bigger even than her businesses, a constant for Marilyn, with every fiber of her being, is that she is a true humanitarian. Her passion for community and giving back goes beyond her success with culinary endeavors. Marilyn is a lover of the ingredients that nourish the soul.
Along the Asbury Park Boardwalk Marilyn’s restaurants and bars include Langosta Lounge, serving unique, locally sourced coastal cuisine, Pop’s Garage, serving casual and sustainable Mexican foods, and the Asbury Park Yacht Club, a beach bar and art gallery. In Long Branch, she owns The Whitechapel Projects (WCP), a restaurant and brewery. Just a few blocks from the beach, the industrial style building is artistically decorated with a brick-walled courtyard, an old elevator shaft as an entrance foyer, and plenty of outside seating for summer dining out back. Creative food options are farm-to-table and include a variety of dishes with delectable mushrooms from WCP’s onsite gourmet mushroom garden. In Normandy Beach, Marilyn owns the iconic Labrador Lounge and Tini’s Fish House, serving up Jersey Shore favorites. There is Marilyn Schlossbach Catering for beach weddings and corporate events, and Wave of Balance, Marilyn’s wellness supplement company.
Stepping into any of Marilyn’s establishments is an artistic experience. The enticing aroma of delicious foods fill your senses. Your eyes take in the décor, the walls are lined with unique original artwork. Nearly all of Marilyn’s venues host live musicians from the local communities. And if you’re a lover of chocolate, her latest business venture, Vintage Plantations, launched in 2020, is a boat-to-bean-to-bar, small batch chocolate company in Normandy Beach. A joint venture between chocolatier Pierrick Chouard and Marilyn, Vintage Plantations evolved from a chance meeting with Chouard on a ferry ride, and Marilyn’s love for chocolate.
“Marilyn Schlossbach is a shining example of what a philanthropist should be,” said Jeremy Grunin, President of The Grunin Foundation, when asked about their interactions. “She gives back generously of not only her treasure, but something even more valuable – her time.”
Marilyn’s community work includes founding the not-for-profit Food for Thought by the Sea, which fosters healthy relationships and learning opportunities through culinary and environmental studies. Since 2008, she’s offered free holiday meals to any and all in need on Thanksgiving and other holidays. She works in collaboration with Interfaith Neighbors on Asbury Park’s Kula Café and Urban Farm, which offers culinary training and potential job opportunities to local youth; community gardening and surf lessons with the Boys and Girls Club of Asbury Park; board membership with the College Achieve Greater Asbury Park Charter School. Marilyn is committed to unwavering support of environmental organizations such as Clean Ocean Action, Surfrider Foundation, American Littoral Society, and Waves for Water, an organization that helps to bring clean water to villages throughout Nicaragua, and also helps to protect coastlines and marine environments.
Marilyn’s latest community project is not-for-profit Food For Thought By The Sea’s food truck. Marilyn has partnered with Fulfill on this project, and has a couple major sponsors for the truck, including New Jersey Natural Gas (NJNG).
PHOTO CREDIT: Carmela Caracappa
“Working with NJNG in the community for nearly three decades, I have met a lot of people who are doing great things in the community and Marilyn is one of those special people that gives back, while also running her own businesses,” said Tom Hayes, Director of Customer and Community Relations for NJNG. “I have had the pleasure of working with Marilyn on different projects over the years, but when I was approached to see if NJNG would help with the Food for Thought food truck, that would train local youth and those in need of solid employment, while also helping local nonprofits raise money, I knew this was going to be a great fit for NJNG.”
With all those businesses on her plate, and her deep commitments to the community’s needs, the omnipresent Marilyn manages to prioritize a work life balance, enjoying time with her 9-year-old twin daughters, Hari Mar and Rubi Dee, and her artist husband, Scott Szegeski.
Where did you grow up?
Marilyn: I grew up in Belmar, and I attended the Ranney School until I was of high school age and then I begged my parents to let me go to the public school. I wanted to go to school with the kids I knew locally. So, I began attending Asbury Park High School, and when I entered, I was academically ahead and attended Brookdale at the same time. I was the youngest of three children. I have two older brothers, with a long age gap between us. My parents had me when they were older. I was the surprise baby! I have always loved the ocean and I grew up here at the Jersey Shore and I have a true love and appreciation for it.
Did you know growing up that you wanted to be a restaurateur?
Marilyn: Hell no! My goal in life was to become Jacques Cousteau’s assistant. I grew up with the ocean as my best friend. I loved surfing… I applied to the University of Miami and got into the marine biology program. At the same time there was a mix-up with my transcripts from graduating high school, and that held up my attending Miami. That was finally worked out, but it was too late-my mother became ill, then my father died, and my mother became worse. I needed to help take care of her. I attended FIT and New School in NYC.
What was the pivotal moment for you that inspired you to be a chef?
Marilyn: I was an 18-year-old kid working in my older brother’s French Japanese restaurant in Avon named Oshin. We had so much fun. We dressed in Japanese Kabuki attire and theatre makeup and promoted the restaurant by walking on the beaches in full costume. In my free time I would go to the beach, surf, and go to clubs to dance all night. It was a lot of fun! But when my mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer in my early 20s, the fun came to an abrupt halt. After suffering chemo treatments, she went on a macrobiotic diet, and I witnessed her turning her health completely around. She went into 100% remission because of food. It was during those days, as I watched how food enhanced her health, that I would discover my passion for the culinary arts, healthy ingredients and natural supplements. I saw an amazing transformation of healing the body, between food and perseverance. This was very intriguing to me, and it really opened my eyes to how the mind and body are connected. My father died after her remission, and she lost her will to live. I lost both my parents very young. I was only 20 or so.
It was around that same time when one evening at Oshin, we were expecting a large crowd at the restaurant and our chef walked out on us. We were totally screwed. I called my brother to explain the situation and he said, “Well you are going to have to cook then…” I was really nervous, but my brother helped me over the phone walking me through step-by-step on how to cook…and I LOVED it. I remember the moment he was coaching me and I was cooking the tuna, and I flipped it on the grill and got the temperature right. I was hooked, that was it. From that moment I never stopped learning about foods and how to prepare them – I am a self-taught chef.
What is the number one challenge your industry is facing today?
Marilyn: That’s an easy one. As we are rising out of the pandemic, it is harder to find employees. There are not enough people applying for the restaurant jobs. I would encourage parents to encourage their teens to get a summer restaurant job, your teen will learn so much on the job that they can take with them the rest of their lives. They will learn skills in the restaurant business that they will take with them. Even just the socialization is important today.
PHOTO CREDIT: Carmela Caracappa
What was the first restaurant you opened?
Marilyn: It was the early 90s, we were driving to Seaside to go to a surf shop, and I saw a sign in Bayhead that said, “For Rent”. It looked like a little cottage, a French Chateau. It had been a restaurant. The landlord gave it to me for a couple thousand dollars for the entire summer… I put out a call to my friends for help and we all worked on painting and prepping it…It was a very tiny restaurant and I named it Rosalie’s Kitchen, after a woman who I knew and admired, who was a former boyfriend’s housekeeper. She inspired me with healthy ingredients she would use in her food preparation, and she had such a warm personality. I never felt like I fit in with the boyfriend’s family, but I bonded with Rosalie. My wish was that someday she would come visit the restaurant and she did. She was in her 90s wearing a Rosalie’s Kitchen shirt…it was really special. The prior chef built all these edible gardens around the restaurant, so I walked into an edible cornucopia. There were only a few tables, we were only open in the summer, all the workers were my friends, and it was a really great time. I made up the menu depending on the ingredients I could get from the organic truck, and we had a great following, great reviews…
Shortly after, I met a guy and we became a couple, we opened up another restaurant together, and it was disastrous. He was abusive and controlling and destructive, and I ended up losing everything, both restaurants were lost, and I walked away from the restaurant business, and took a job in the surf shop industry.
How did you meet your husband Scott?
Marilyn: My husband Scott Szegeski is an artist known for his gyotaku art and surf-inspired interpretations of Japanese printing. Although he grew up in a family that was in the restaurant business, he’s not a restaurant worker. He’s truly an artist, that is what he does full time.
However, we met when Scott was a dishwasher at a place in Mantoloking, called Used to Be’s, because it used to be a lot of other places. The owner there had offered me a free kitchen. He said to a friend of mine, ‘She’s too talented to not be working in a kitchen, tell her I want her to come and work here.’ I began working as a chef and we got a great review from the press and it took off. Then a new owner bought the building, and it was time for a change. Scott had an internship for Surfer Magazine in California and I was the Snow Board Representative, and we began meeting at the industry trade shows and eventually dating.
When did you get married?
Marilyn: It was in 2006, and we couldn’t afford a wedding and really did not have any time to plan one. It was the grand opening of our first restaurant together, called Market in the Middle, and we told all our workers to show up looking a little more dressed because they were going to be working a wedding, but we did not say whose wedding it was. It was a really great time!
OHANA: Marilyn Schlossbach, Hari Mar, Ruby Dee, and Scott Szegeski | PHOTO CREDIT: Jenna Murphy, Okie Dokie Studio
You have beautiful nine-year-old twin daughters, how did they change you?
Marilyn: I love being their mom. The more you live the more you want simplicity in life because that’s what matters. Having kids has made me stay more committed to having the right people around me. It has made me make better decisions about where to spend money. I have always cared about having the right employees but even more importantly now, I look for employees with good values because my kids are in my businesses all the time and I want them to be surrounded by positive, good people. Having a balanced healthy life is even more important. I have what I call “mommy time” and that’s when I’m totally focused on my girls. I am able to disconnect from work. We are a family that really has a great time together and separating from everything else and just enjoying being together keeps us balanced.
What do you think has influenced you to altruistically care and give the way you do?
Marilyn: First of all, I think every business can do well by contributing to the community they are in and giving back. There are moments in my life that did change my personal outlook, specifically, on a cellular level, I was changed when my mother had a nervous breakdown when I was 9 years old. The carefree life was over. That changed how I looked at everything. I loved the ocean, and it was my escape. I would skateboard to the beach myself and would swim and surf and it was my place to get away. When both of my parents died, that was another significant difficult time.
Tell me about your team members.
Marilyn: My husband and I are both artists, him professionally, and because we are quirky, we attract quirky people to work for us. It makes the dining experience one that is more interesting, and I believe enjoyable. I am a no drama person. So, to work with me there is an understanding that it is a drama free environment. Every customer that walks in our doors is important. When we are interviewing employees, we ask questions like, ‘What motivates you?’ and ‘What volunteer or charity work have you been involved with or would like to become involved with?’ We really look for good people. Kindness matters.
How do you manage to accomplish everything you do?
Marilyn: I surround myself with goal-oriented people. I look to the passion of others for inspiration. I act on items that I want to accomplish. Sometimes success can be as simple as moving on the items you envision. It’s all about balance of mind and body and knowing what you can handle and what needs to wait. I surround myself with the right people and together we make it happen.
What is your message to your customers?
Marilyn: We want to make you happy. We want every customer to leave our restaurants, not only saying they had a great meal, but that they loved being in our space, are going to come back, and most importantly we want our customers to make happy memories! Come visit us. Support your local restaurants.
 |
See this story in print!
|
_smaller.png)
_smaller.jpg)
_smaller.jpg)
