By Ilias Karagiannis
George Paraskevopoulos’ eyes fill with tears when he talks about his father. We sit with the Greek Australian businessman in his coffee shop in Athens, Greece called The Roasting Warehouse Athens (Ntelakroua 2, Athens) when memories flood his mind.
George opens up about his migration to Australia with his parents, a brief pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic that gave him the opportunity to reflect, and the return to Greece with the opening of a coffee shop in the up-and-coming suburb of Neos Kosmos.
“It’s like a circle has closed,” he says emotionally, thinking of his father, who recently passed away.
George’s father didn’t get to see the Roasting Warehouse Athens, but he felt proud of his son and the small coffee empire he had created in Melbourne, Victoria. With two stores in Airport West and North Melbourne, and later South Fremantle in Western Australia, George has instilled the philosophy of coffee not only in the Greek community, but also in his Australian customers.
The opening of the store in Athens, he tells me, “is an opportunity to come to Greece five to six times a year.”
Within a few months of opening, Roasting Warehouse Athens has already become a meeting point for Greek Australians in Greece. It has also been visited by the Australian Ambassador to Greece, Alison Duncan. A regular visitor is the stunning model, Mary Vitinaros.
“In just three days, I met about 100 people from Australia,” George says, pleased with the early support for his venture.
Meeting the coffee champion
The Roasting Warehouse Athens was the result of a friendship between George and the Greek coffee champion, top barista Nikos Antzaras.
“I met Nikos in Australia. He was competing there in a global coffee competition. He had come with his wife, Eleni, who now oversees everything in the store,” George says.
“I told my son to go pick them up from the airport, to help with whatever they needed. We had a good time. A few months later, we came to Greece. We met with the kids, they treated us, we talked but we didn’t discuss anything about the store. In April 2023, Eleni sent me a proposal to open the store. She asked if I was interested.
“I thought about it, sometimes I said yes, sometimes no. The mind plays games. Finally, I said yes. I came to Greece. Nikos had chosen the location, and I liked it very much.”
George had a coffee empire before, which inspired him into offering the best possible coffee to his Australian customers.
“I always had businesses in Melbourne. Starting in 2002, I created a chain of 27 stores, which was doing very well. I decided to buy a store in Perth to roast coffee, and immediately after, I bought a store in North Melbourne,” he explains.
For George, coffee is a bonding agent that brings people together. What he wants now, as he raises his three children to take over the business, is to have contacts with people who share his vision. The coffee community, as he calls it.
“Now I know what I want. I want a community of people with my interests. I like the coffee community. It doesn’t discriminate. You go, have a coffee, no one will ask you what religion you believe in or where you are from. And I like that,” George says.
Life in Greece
George was born and raised in Melbourne, but life brought him to Greece when he was nine years old. From a metropolitan center in Australia to a Greek village in the 1970s.
“We lived in Greece for a few years. In the village of Panagitsa, a little outside of Levidi. I was nine years old then. I remember the landmarks of my life from my trips to Greece,” he says.
“It was incredible. It was a cultural shock having lived in Australia and then living in a small village. We left again for Australia, then came back to Greece and lived in Vrachati, Corinthia. For about a year. My father had the adventure in him. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
George adds that his mother visits Greece every year and she was happy that he opened the store in Athens.
“She is 82 years old and comes to Greece every year. My mother knows me, that I am adventurous. She was naturally happy,” George says, adding that he visited Greece six times last year.
“I’m trying to do two things. Work and come to Greece.”
Expansion in London, Cyprus, Lebanon, Turkey
His plans are ambitious. After all, coffee and entrepreneurship run through his veins.
“Today I woke up, put on my clothes, and came straight to the store. To talk to Eleni about what went well and what didn’t the previous day. I like entrepreneurship,” George says.
I ask him about his future plans after the opening of the Roasting Warehouse Athens.
“First of all, we want to do the best for the customer. My philosophy is to give the best experience to the customer, and that’s why we created the largest store in Melbourne. I have specialised staff who ask customers if they liked the food, the coffee. If something went wrong, we will solve it on the spot. If we don’t solve it, the customer won’t come back,” he says.
“I do what I love. In Greece, I will give you the food that is very popular in Melbourne, the freddo, and excellent service.”
George has entrusted the Australian executive chef, David Stewart, with the delicacies of Roasting Warehouse Athens. At the same time, the Roasting Warehouse brand is beginning to spread.
“They always said Greece was in the most strategic location on the planet. So I decided to expand. In London, I’ve made a deal with a professional cricket player, who is already in training. We will sell coffee wholesale. This is our main business. Additionally, we are close to an agreement with Cyprus, Turkey, and Lebanon,” George explains.
One thing is certain – the Roasting Warehouse Athens has already become the hangout spot for the Greek Australian community in Athens.
