Jake Kosseff grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, where he was introduced to restaurant work at the tender age of 12 years old, filling in at as a busboy at a friend's father's Italian restaurant. He has never held a job outside of the restaurant industry. In 1995, Jake graduated from St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland with a BA in Philosophy, Classical Languages, History of Mathematics and the Philosophy of Science.

Degree firmly in hand, Jake decided to continue his path in the restaurant industry. Beginning as the Chef at Ciao! On West Street in Annapolis, Maryland, Jake went on to hold prestigious positions at fine dining institutions such as General Manager in Training for ChickenOut! Rotisserie (in the Washington DC metro area).

In 1997 Jake moved back to his home town of Madison, Wisconsin to open Luigi's Diner for Food Fight Restaurants. In what seemed like a logical decision to Jake, but was apparently quite different from anything Madison had seen at the time, the wine list at Luigi's was made up of 100% value-priced Italian wines to go with the rustic Italian fare. The list was a wild success, and inspired Jake to become a sommelier.

From Madison, Jake moved to Seattle, Washington, the city he now calls home, in 1999. Following short stints as the Beverage Director at The Blowfish Asian Cafe and for Six Degrees Restaurants, Jake became the Wine & Spirits Director for Chef Kerry Sear's Cascadia Restaurant in 2000. While at Cascadia Restaurant, Jake developed a local and national following based on excellent wine service and his critically acclaimed selection of outstanding wines from small producers.

In 2005 Jake became the Wine & Spirits Director for Campagne and Cafe Campagne in the Pike Place Market. During this time, Campagne's wine program blossomed into one of the most comprehensive and interesting French wine programs on the west coast, winning numerous awards, including the Best of Award of Excellence from the Wine Spectator.

Jake has also consulted on some of the most successful wine programs in Seattle. Wine lists that Jake has written have won in the wine list category in the Best of Citysearch awards 3 years running: for Crush in 2005 (audience winner), for Campagne in 2006 (audience and critics winner), and for Qube in 2007 (audience winner). In August, 2007, Jake decided to leave Campagne & Cafe Campagne and pursue consulting fulltime.

Jake is the 2006 Chaine des Rotisseurs Best Young Sommelier in America and has been accepted to sit for the Master Sommelier Diploma exam in November 2007 or February 2008. Jake is also the Sommelier for Seattle Metropolitan's Restaurant Dream Team (2006), as well as Seattle Magazine's Best Sommelier (2007).