Athens Greek Souvlaki and Gyro owner rewarded for belief in Stratford

Three years after opening Athens Greek Souvlaki and Gyro in Stratford, Terry Voulcaridis knows many of his customers by name.

Article content Three years after opening Athens Greek Souvlaki and Gyro in Stratford, Terry Voulcaridis knows many of his customers by name. And what they order. Recommended Videos “I don’t even have to ask them,” he said.

“I put the food out right away.” It’s an important connection Voulcaridis has formed with decades of experience in the food industry, which started in 1969 when he was 14 and washing dishes at a Greektown restaurant in Toronto. He’d arrived on a boat in Halifax six months earlier with a jacket, shoes, pants and $20 in his pocket.

After settling in Toronto, a woman from the Salvation Army took Voulcaridis and two other Greek boys into her care and gave them clothes and winter wear. His first restaurant job paid $9 a week and often required shifts that ran from 10 a.m. to 3 a.m. “I was happy because I had a job, and nine dollars was a lot of money,” Voulcaridis said.

“They gave me food and a place to sleep.” An older Greek man at the restaurant gave Voulcaridis some advice – find work at a Canadian diner. “If you don’t learn the English language, you’re never going to go nowhere,” Voulcaridis was told.

The teen landed at a Ponderosa steakhouse, and the restaurant’s parent company – impressed by his work ethic and passion – sent him to college to learn the finer points of business. “I never looked back,” he said. “I said, ‘If I’m so smart and such a good worker

and I love people, why not work for myself?'” In 1974, Voulcaridis opened his first of 14 Toronto restaurants – a Greek diner that was popular with nearby high school students. A failed foray into Florida didn’t deter Voulcaridis, who eventually landed in Kitchener-Waterloo and bought Country Boy.

He transformed the family restaurant into a Southern Ontario staple while opening other eateries and even partnering with Telly Savalas, the late actor best known for playing Kojak in the TV series and movies. The pandemic was difficult for Voulcaridis, who took a financial and psychological hit. He’d sold the Country Boy plaza after 27 years but wasn’t ready to retire.

“I was frustrated (and) I was depressed,” he said. “All my life I’ve been working, and now I have a passport and I have money, and I can’t go nowhere. “I said, that’s no life for me.”

While visiting friends in Stratford, the veteran restauranteur noticed a space on Ontario Street – once home to Pizza Pizza and Quiznos – was vacant. “Stratford is a very saturated city,” he said. “They have 120, 130 restaurants.

They have more restaurants per square foot than any other city in Canada because of the Festival, and I didn’t worry about the competition. I was going to do my own thing.” The building had all the amenities needed to make food, and Voulcaridis added personal touches from Greece like chandeliers and part of the flooring.

He also brought something else to the table and proved the doubters wrong. “I said, I have three tools – good food, good service and good prices. People will come.”

Voulcaridis points to a 4.8 Google rating from more than 600 reviews as proof that he’s followed through. “Nobody can beat our price, nobody can beat our quality, and nobody can beat the service we have here,” he said. “We have top notch everything.”

The 78-year-old isn’t slowing down. He still works on the grill, flipping souvlaki and hustling to get orders out, and he has plans to expand Athens to eight more cities in the next five years. “I believed because I have so much experience that I could build a business here and I could do well,” he said.

“I believe Stratford is a great city if you give them value and take care of them, and that’s what I’ve done. “I’m passionate about what I do. I love what I do.”