WORDS & PHOTOS: Wendy Dewhurst
As I reached out to family, friends, and colleagues for a quote about Eleni Sokos for this article, it became clear very quickly that she is well respected and loved in our community, and the passion in the quotes I received left me feeling like I couldn’t have said it better myself.
It was a gorgeous day on St. Armands Circle when I sat down with Eleni at the remodeled, reopened, and rebranded Café on St. Armands, featuring a newly designed Mediterranean menu.
I suppose you could say Eleni has come full circle with her career. She grew up working in her family’s Bradenton restaurant, Demetrio’s Pizza, but knew early on that she had other passions she wanted to explore. She refused to follow the map given to her and instead created her own path, each destination leading to the next, eventually bringing her back to the industry where it began.
“We had already owned Demetrio’s Pizza when Eleni was born, so she has always had restaurant blood running through her veins,” said Eleni’s dad, Gus Sokos. “From the time she was three, she would wake up early and wait for me by the front door so that I would take her to work with me. As soon as we arrived, she would start by wiping off all the tables and preparing for the day. Her favorite thing to do was to sit guests once the doors opened. We joked that we hoped no one would turn us into child labor laws.”
In high school, Eleni discovered a love of history, mythology, cultural traditions, politics, investigative reporting, and archeology. At first, they all seemed random to me, but I realized all of these passions had an underlying foundation of storytelling and sharing information.
While pursuing a political science degree at Florida State University, Eleni had the opportunity to take a year off to serve in the Hernando de Soto Historical Society Queen’s Court, where she held the title as Queen for a year. During that year, her mentor, Johnette Isham, founder of Realize Bradenton, recommended her for a social media manager/marketing position at the Ringling Museum.
“There, I found my path to storytelling,” said Eleni. “I started getting side hustle marketing jobs and found that I loved creating the story for a business, an organization, or a product. In 2014, I went out on my own, then in 2017 I opened Sokos Solutions Marketing Agency on Main Street in Lakewood Ranch and soon had Anna Maria Oyster Bar as a client.”
In 2021, Eleni and her life partner, Jason Simpson, opened Kefi Streetside Café, and Eleni moved her office to downtown Bradenton.
“Being in the craft beer industry for years, I realized that the passion that craft beer makers have is very similar to the passion many chefs have for their cooking,” said Jason. “I began to change my mindset, and it ignited a passion I didn’t know I had about the hospitality industry and food. Eleni and I were both ready for a change and decided to open Kefi Streetside Café.”
“Eleni has always been self-motivated, and once she learned to read at age three, there was no stopping her,” said Eleni’s mom, Lisa Sokos. “Even from a young age, most things she did were just to prove to herself that she could do them. While spending summers in Greece, she began to understand why her father and grandparents worked so hard to build a better life in America, and she was always wanting to help them in that goal. Even as a little girl in our family restaurant, she was always jumping in to help the next customer walking through the door or answer a ringing phone.
“As she grew up, she began taking on more and more leadership roles,” continued Lisa. “It wasn’t long before she was president of each organization she was involved with. We were so proud when she was chosen as a representative of Manatee County to the American Legion Auxiliary (ALA) Girl’s State Program and then selected to represent Florida at ALA Girl’s Nation. It didn’t surprise us at all that Eleni would earn top honors in a program that brings girls together to learn about US government, develop leadership skills, and learn responsible citizenship through an interactive simulated approach of assuming duties of municipal leaders.”
Just a few of the organizations Eleni has donated time and her marketing talents to are the Women’s Resource Center and the Hernando de Soto Historical Society. She currently utilizes her leadership skills while serving on the Executive Committee as an officer at the Manatee Chamber of Commerce.
“While we have known each other for quite a while, Eleni and I have worked closely together for the past several years on Manatee Chamber initiatives,” said Chamber President Jacki Dezelski. “I really value opportunities to brainstorm with her, talk through tough issues, bounce ideas around, and even to challenge each other with diverging perspectives. She is driven, creative, kind, so smart, and her work ethic is second to none. Eleni is also community-minded, which is really important to the culture we value in the greater Manatee County region’s business community.
“There are similarities in her path and mine in that we have earned leadership roles in well-established organizations,” added Jacki. “My time as President and CEO at the Manatee Chamber follows the tenure of the late Bob Bartz, who was a beloved, incredibly accomplished, and legendary leader. He generously poured so much into my career development over two decades. I was ready for my next step at the Chamber. Eleni has been guided, pushed, and supported by the unmatchable John Horne for her next level of leadership. There are unique nuances to leading an organization when you are following a titan in your industry, but I was ready to make the role my own, and Eleni is, too.”
That brings us to today and Eleni’s future in her current role as Executive Vice President at Oysters Rock Hospitality (ORH). It’s not every day the owner of a well-established local restaurant finds just the right person to take over the reins of their business, but John Horne can’t say enough about how excited and confident he is to do just that.
“We’re so looking forward to helping transition Eleni into the Chief Executive Oyster role at ORH over the next 3-5 years,” John said. “Eleni personifies hospitality. She has a restaurateur’s heart and passion for food, for team and for guests…and not just a restaurateur’s heart, she has a young heart with better ways to motivate a younger team than this OWG. We share a strong passion for hospitality, and I know that after 2-4 more years…or is it 3-7 more, she will be ready to continue our place in this wonderful community.”
“She’s worked closely with ORH for well over 10 years, starting as a contractor handling all our advertising and PR through her company, Sokos Social, before joining us full-time over two years ago. I’ve had offers to buy me out so I can head off to watch the sunsets with Amanda more often, but by developing, mentoring, and showing Eleni the ORH Sauce, we can ensure that we stay a local, community-minded run group of restaurants for another 30 years. Amanda and I are thrilled to pass the reins of ORH to someone so talented and deeply caring, both within and beyond its four walls. We know Eleni will lead the next generation of Oysters Rock Hospitality with passion and vision.”
“I am nervous and excited for this challenge,” said Eleni. “Jason and I want to create an atmosphere where we align with the ORH mission: that everyone at our tables knows that they belong. We want to create opportunities for people to feel connected to their communities, whether that is through events, news media blogs, or social media channels. Connecting people to place and space is something I will always strive for.”
Eleni admits that she tends to jump in feet first, but I think we can all agree that it’s working for her!
