Personal Touch Dining, a full-service catering and event management company with nearly 38 years of experience, has taken over management of Coronado Fire Station Venue, bringing a new focus to the island’s event space offerings. “We do full-service catering, but we also manage event spaces,” said Tracy Zemke, Founder and CEO of Personal Touch Dining. “We manage Leo Carrillo Ranch and The Old Rancho wedding estate. We own Harbor View Loft. And now we also manage Coronado Fire Station Venue.”

The company stepped in to transform the space after years of uncertainty about its purpose. “They toyed with, okay, are we a bar? Are we a venue?” Zemke explained. “And so we came in, and we are focusing on it as an event space because really in Coronado, if you’re not at the [Hotel] Del, not at the Marriott or the Coronado Community Center, there’s not a lot of other options as far as event space is concerned.”

The transition came about quickly and somewhat unexpectedly. “We had gone and just seen the space, and all the stars were aligned, and the owner reached out to us and said, ‘Hey, would you be interested in managing our space?’”

After the Fourth of July, Personal Touch Dining began a comprehensive rebrand and renovation. This included painting, redecorating, redesigning the space, and launching a social media campaign. Zemke and her team are also in the midst of redoing the venue’s website.

Personal Touch Dining can tailor its level of involvement in an event to suit each client’s needs, whether more or less engaged. If a client prefers, Personal Touch can handle every detail of an event, including food, decor, and all other arrangements. “It’s all under our umbrella, so we handle all the management, all the food service, all the bar service, all the coordination, rentals, decor, transportation—whatever the client needs,” Zemke explained. “So we can do as little of it or as much as the client wants. But our main focus is, obviously, food and beverage because that’s our core, our focus.”

The Fire Station Venue now boasts a polished look to match its new role. Previously, the bar resembled a standard restaurant bar, featuring bottles on the back bar and registers situated behind the counter. The space now appears clean and fresh, with Zemke describing it as more upscale and versatile for various events. “It looks very different than it did before,” Zemke told me. “It’s no longer the bar look; it is very much an event space now.”

Although this is Zemke’s first project in Coronado, she and her team are eager to create a space that is both distinctive and authentically representative of the town. “Bringing more people to the island is really an important thing to really get this venue going,” Zemke noted. “Each of our venues is different based on the clientele, and that is kind of our business model, and if for some reason the space doesn’t work for you, we will always help you find another space.”

The venue is designed to host a variety of events, including corporate gatherings, military functions and retirements, rehearsal dinners, weddings, and more. “We can do up to 150 moving style, 70 seated, so it really offers a lot of different options,” Zemke said. “Our biggest markets are corporate, military, welcome parties, rehearsal dinners, small weddings, and social events.”

Personal Touch Dining handles approximately 450 events annually, and the company expects the Fire Station Venue to become a hub for both locals and visitors. The company’s origins lie in catering, which they also provide to the island, beyond their event space. “You don’t really have that high-end catering on the island that can create anything,” Zemke started. “We do everything from the casual buffet to the upscale cocktail party… from 50 people to 10,000.”

Since taking over, the team has begun booking events well into the future. “We inherited a few events that we are working through with those clients, and then we are now starting to book into 2027 as well,” Zemke said.

Accessibility and community engagement are key goals for the new management. “It has been great (getting to know this town),” Zemke noted. “We love where we are at, and everyone has been so nice… And we are really looking forward to getting to know more people and being more involved in the community.”

For more information on Coronado Fire Station Venue, please visit https://www.coronadofirestationvenue.com/ or check out their Instagram @coronadofirestation.

VOL. 116, NO. 32 – Aug. 12, 2026