The mechanical work ethic of Denis Makris

After trying his hand at almost every job imaginable, Denis Makris hit it big after monetising his secret talent: fixing kitchen machinery

At 75, Denis Makris doesn’t blink an eye at working six days a week.
The veteran self taught refrigeration mechanic and sheet metal artisan has created an empire just from investing in his sixth sense with fixing kitchen machinery.
Selling potatoes to his fellow Greek fish and chip shop owners, he’d prove to be more useful fixing the stoves and fridges than peddling spuds.
He would use that self taught knowhow to set up his own industrial kitchen workhouse, eventually starting Richmond Food Machinery in 1970.
He later bought out Cyclo Fans, a business supplying fan and exhaust systems for commercial kitchens that helped him stock Richmond Food Machinery.
Those two exploits made him a very successful man.
He’s come a long way from his humble beginnings in Greece.
“I grew up barefoot,” he tells Neos Kosmos’ Vivienne Morris.
“The only things I knew back then were the mountains of my village, the goats and sheep I was herding with my crook as a companion.”
It was at 14 he decided to change his luck when he boarded a ship to Australia. With his crook by his side he travelled to Geelong to work at his uncles’ cafe.
It took him a year, working seven days a week from 8.00 am to midnight to raise enough money to pay his 200 pound ticket from Greece.
For Mr Makris, fatigue wasn’t in his vocabulary.
At 16, he managed to raise enough funds to buy his own shop in Geelong, a fish and chips shop that in retrospect he bought too young to manage. He sold it and worked in cafes again, six days a week and then plucked chickens on the Sunday for extra pay (in those days for just one pound).
The pursuit of wealth was always at the top of his mind, when he had heard of so many before him striking it rich in the ‘lucky country’.
His lack of schooling might have been a regret, but his accomplishments showed it didn’t matter.
He later bought his second shop, this time selling hamburgers on Sydney Road that had him doing ridiculous hours again – 5.00 pm to 5.00 am every day.
In his success, he ventured into another shop, selling sandwiches that ended up losing him a fortune.
He went back to earning a wage at a coffee shop, and on the weekends working as a waiter in a glitzy nightclub.
He remembers serving alcohol to stars like Graham Kennedy and Bert Newton in coffee mugs, to avoid the archaic licensing laws at the time.
He’d work as a taxi driver, at a fruit shop and eventually earned quite a bit after investing in a scallop trawler he manned with wife Mandy Diamando seven days a week. All again self taught.
But it was when a local potato farmer asked for help selling his spuds to fish and chip shops that it really made the difference.
He quickly built up a reputation of having the Midas touch with kitchen machinery, and could diagnose a problem in seconds.
That reputation, and with a bit of capital from the scallops he’d collect, he founded his own industrial kitchen workhouse and supplier.
After holding so many jobs, it must have been hard for Mr Makris to keep his mind on one thing. He busied himself with finding out the ins and outs of every piece of machinery and worked to make it better.
In fact, his exhaust fan system proved to be almost indestructible, standing the test of time and keeping his customers happy, but regrettably not keeping him busy with repairs.
His engineering curiosity is something to marvel at. He will be quick to tell you despite his livelihood coming from the kitchen machinery he supplies and fixes, his favourite invention to date is his homemade tsipouro distillery.
You’ll find Mr Makris scavenging for lost treasures on his days off, restoring them and turning them over again.
His wife will tell you how much of a hassle it was finding space for 800 old cash registers Mr Makris came home with one day. At just $6 each, Mr Makris was able to get $100 each after giving them a spruce, and proving his eye for trashed treasures.
But now with age, you’ll find Mr Makris passing on his mechanical talents to his grandchildren through his pet projects. He’s an avid collector of vintage tools and machinery, especially espresso machines, but his number one love would have to go to restoring vintage cars.
On any given Sunday, you’ll find him under the bonnet tinkering away, always keeping busy.