Origins & Ethos
Meet Denise
If you've spent five minutes with Denise, you already know — she's the one who remembers everyone's name, asks about your kids, and makes you feel like you've been friends for years.
She grew up in San Jose, spent her teenage years in the Sierra Foothills, and met Todd at the pizza restaurant he was managing. They got married, had their first daughter, and moved to Peoria in 1998 when Todd started at Caterpillar.
Caterpillar took them to Japan, Canada, and Texas over the years. Every place they landed, Denise found the good restaurants, learned the wine lists, and started quietly filing away what she'd do differently with a place of her own.
Now it's her turn.
The Name
Why Rosie's?
Denise picked up the nickname on a Make-A-Wish bike ride — her fellow cyclists kept calling her Rosie, and it stuck.
Meet the Team
Chef
Emily Canterbury
Emily's a Peoria native who left in 2015 to study culinary arts in St. Louis. She came back inspired, honed her craft in the Heights cooking under chef Brian Jenkins, and built her own ventures along the way — Canterbury Creations and Glitzy Glizzy. Now she's at Rosie's, and we're excited to see what she brings to the kitchen.
Co-Founder
Todd Baker
Todd is Denise's husband and Rosie's co-founder. He spent close to three decades at Caterpillar — eventually as Vice President of Engineering and a global leader — before turning his focus to Rosie's. Now he's the one quietly making the space come together. Turns out the engineering degree comes in handy.