PATRAS – It was the first summer of the pandemic when Demos Demopolous, longtime owner of the Bimmer Motors Group auto repair shop in Long Island City, NY, decided to take a step that many consider, but few actually accomplish, leaving the business to his older children, in order to settle permanently in Patras. He himself saw the first light of life in the Achaean capital, Patras, but his parents, who also Patras natives, left for the United States when he was two months old. At the age of 48, he returned with the aim of finding himself in a “safer” environment, but also to ultimately invest in his homeland, via the catering industry.

“‘Mela’ means ‘apple’ in Italian. It was our reference to the Big Apple… New York,” Nikos Kefaliakos, also a Greek-American from Patras, who returned three years after Demopolous, told The National Herald, after living for more than 20 years in the U.S. He was known as “Nikos from Kyclades,” since for 12 years he was a manager at the eponymous restaurant in Bayside, serving thousands of customers, Greeks and non-Greeks alike.

“My American phone is still ringing, at midnight in Greece, for someone to book a table at ‘Kyclades,’” he noted, even though he has been away from New York for a year and a half.

For his part, Demopolous, who has a young family from his second marriage, invested by renovating an old cafe-restaurant on the beach at Rio, a town in the suburbs of Patras, which was put up for sale in the first years after the pandemic. He had made it clear that he wanted to invest and he was interested, even though he had no experience in the field.

“I had never been into focusing. I had an auto repair shop on Northern Boulevard. The choice was made by chance. I was looking to find an investment. My older children from my first marriage had come from America and we were looking to find a beach-front cafe to drink coffee. We came to the shop that used to be here. We didn’t like the coffee. We came back after two days and we didn’t like the food either. Then I found out that the shop was being sold. Here, because there is a bay and it cuts the north wind, it is the perfect beach. That’s why people used to gather here, even if it did not have the best possible service. That’s how I decided to make this investment,” he said.

Although the sun, the sea and the seemingly calmer Patras have benefited the 52-year-old expatriate, he still has something to say about the rigid bureaucracy, which almost undermined his investment, as the proceedings were completed after 14 full months.

“Reconnecting with the utility services was a huge shock. There is no organization. It’s clear that the acquaintances you have make a difference. They made my life upside down for 14 months. I spat blood to make all this happen. Urban planning, Hellenic Electricity Distribution Network Operator, it was daunting,” he noted.

Different mentality in Greece

As part of the relevant licensing, ‘Mela,’ like other eateries in Rio, are allotted a number of sunbeds, which allow the customer to combine their beach experience with orders of food, coffee or other drinks. The pricing approach avoids some “red lines” for the public, since it does not include booking costs or a minimum price for orders. Nevertheless, the high demand shaped the reservation policy, which was the only point of friction in the store’s first summer of operation.

“The mentality in Greece and America is different. In principle, here we had reactions about the reservations. The Greek does not want to see sunbed reservations. The biggest misunderstandings that happened this year were for this reason. Also, the numbers in America are different from Greece. Here you can fill a store, think everything is perfect, but lose the ball in no time. In New York, you know there is a wide range of clientele. Even if you lose one, another will come. Here it’s a big village. When you lose one customer, you’ve lost them all. The rumor might get out, you might lose others and close the shop. It needs constant attention,” Demopolous pointed out, while Kefaliakos adds that, in relation to New York, a different approach is required.

“There are customers who make a difference with their behavior, there are others who believe that because they ordered a coffee they can turn the shop upside down,” Kefaliakos said. “In terms of personnel, I haven’t seen much difference from New York. You will see those who have experience, you will see those who want to learn and work, you will also see those who are just waiting for their eight hours to end. Of course, I think that if you treat everyone nicely, you win. Also, it is a fact that in Greece we observe phenomena of profiteering, businesses that do not value the customer’s euro and a tendency to not pay attention to people. We try to respect everyone who comes to the store. And if he is uneducated, let us educate him.”

“Easier in Greece, but…”

Having completed a period of time as a permanent resident in Greece, Demopolous emphasizes that the first big difference is costs, especially if one is a home owner. At the same time, however, he advises that, if someone is thinking of taking the step from America at a productive age, it would be better to ensure an income from there as well.

“At a younger age, I had fallen out financially twice,” he said. “If it happened at 50, there was no going back. This is where you get rid of that stress. And if I don’t make a lot of money here, I don’t care, I’ll eat a piece of bread and cheese.”

Demopolous continued: “In America, the corresponding taxes were $36,000 per year. Here, 800. No relation. Financially, it’s heaven. I have the sea, the mountains, I see the [Rio – Antirrio] Bridge. It’s a better climate. But I want to make it clear that if someone comes here, it would be better if they also have an income from America. If I didn’t have it, I wouldn’t be able to make it. If a local had to go through the processes I went through to open the restaurant with no other income, he wouldn’t have made it. Even America, however, is no longer the land of opportunity, it has huge costs.”

Kefaliakos counters that, once someone gets into the routine, he might not see big differences in everyday life.

“Patras has different rhythms,” Kefaliakos noted. “But on the other hand, when you get into the routine of life, you make it yourself.”

“The same routine I had in New York, I have the same here,” he continued. “I work the same hours, I face the same issues at work. The only good thing is that here, we can have fun for 1-2 months. When the summer ends, because we are far from the center, not even in the city, this whole situation helps, so that we can take a couple of breaths.” “In New York, especially where I was, I couldn’t miss more than 2-3 weeks a year, and only at intervals. I had a hard time in America, even though I reached a point in my life where some things came easier, I would find it difficult to return. I wouldn’t want to go back. But, you never know,” concluded Kefaliakos.