Greek born café owner George Zaharof has won the award for Most Outstanding Business Person of the Year at the Local Business Awards in Sydney.
His café, That Place, located in both Mascot and Stanmore also finished second place for the Business of the Year award.
The award win is a culmination of a lot of hard work says Zaharof but the win isn’t just for him.
“It’s a milestone. It’s recognition of all the hard work, all the stress, the long days, the long nights, some of them, I couldn’t sleep because of the stress of if I’ll be able to survive and pay our bills,” he told Neos Kosmos.
“It was a huge moment for me, for my family and of course my small business.”
The story behind That Place and Zaharof is a long winding one, with many stops, some unique and bizarre, along the way.
Leaving home in search for opportunity
Born in Athens, and raised in Nea Koutali (New Spoon), Lemnos, perhaps a sign of what was to come, hailing from a village of the same name as a kitchen utensil, his family ran a supermarket and wholesale business.
After studying business administration in Thessaloniki, he returned to work in the family business, not before doing his army service and a stint in the military police.
Zaharof was one of hundreds of thousands of tertiary educated Greeks who left the country during the Greek financial crisis of 2008 – 2016.
“It hit Lemnos a few years later, so it started 2008 in the state and by the time we felt it on the island it was 2011-12, and from that point onwards was a hassle to live and survive and do business in Greece,” he said.
When it came time to decide where to go, it was almost always going to be Australia.
His mother previously lived in Australia, so Zaharof was a dual citizen and grew up with photos of the Opera House, Harbour Bridge and Gold Coast in his home.
“My mother lived here in the 70s and 80s talked about how amazing Australia is and about how good the weather is, the business, the money etc.”
“One of my cousins that was born and raised here in Australia, came to Greece. So, you can say my mum planted the seed and then my cousin watered it.”
Politing in Greece to cooking in grease
In 2015, decided to buy a one-way ticket to Australia with the mindset of “we’ll see what happens if it works alright then we enjoy it, we’ll stay, otherwise, we’ll go back to Greece and see what we can do.”
At the time, he was in Lesbos and was a member of the local government. So Zaharof, left behind a political career to chase his passion in hospitality in foreign land he had photos of at home and was always told is “amazing”.
Within two days here, he found a job…working at his relatives’ fish and chip shop. His most immediate and profound impression was the size of the Greek community in Australia. Moreover he was taken back by the way Greek Australians, especially his age, had maintained traditions intergenerationally which have almost disappeared in Greece.
After a year in a fish and chip shop, and getting familiar with the language and culture, and what better way than conversing with Australians looking for a cheeky Dim Sim, he found a job as a floor manager at a café in Circular Quay.
This time spent with his relatives was crucial for Zaharof, who looks back on how lucky he was to have them.
“I’m one of the blessed ones because I have family here… who were very helpful and supportive.”
“I might in a way not need anyone now because I figure things out myself but when you first come to a foreign country, even if you can speak the language which I could to an extent, it’s important to have some people to hold your hand. And I’m blessed because they did; they helped me a lot.”
Doing the hard yards
While working at this café, he found another job as a restaurant manager at a Japanese restaurant in Drummoyne, which he says was “paradoxical” that a Greek was running a venue of Japanese cuisine.
Working at both, the café from 8am to 2-3pm, then catching a ferry to the restaurant to work from around 5.30 to 10-11pm, was “intense” for six days a week. He “wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.”
Eventually the restaurant closed down and he was no longer at the café. After returning from a holiday in Greece, the first time back there since leaving three years prior, he started work in another café and a restaurant.
The restaurant was in The Star Casino in Sydney, but he eventually chose the café.
“For some people this it was a step back because you’re leaving a huge corporation at The Star and the fine dining restaurant to work in a smaller restaurant,” he said.
“The good thing though, was that at this place I’ve learned more ins and out of running a business and being full hands on. A little bit more about coffee, little bit about other beverages, more about rostering and about running shifts more efficiently.”
Then another worldwide crisis hit Zaharof and everyone in the services industry, the COVID pandemic.
Out of work, he and a friend found a rundown place in Mascot and set out to create their own café.
That Place
The first few months were tough, there was no profit, so they split and he bought the other share.
Buying the share left Zaharof in dire straits, with not enough money to pay his rent for the month. He called it a “big leap of faith without a safety net.”
They opened just after the first lockdown in Sydney and had significant growth but then the second lockdown hit, this time for four to five months.
“That was quite stressful because we had approximately 100 seats inside and out and we were only allowed to do takeaway. We had to let one or two people go. But we managed to navigate through and survive.”
We ended up getting out of this way stronger. We kept growing the business and sometime in September of last year, we opened our second location in Stanmore.”
Around that time last year, they were awarded by the Local Business Award as Most Outstanding.
“Operating both businesses, it’s quite intense. I was blessed with a great team. Beautiful multicultural team of people from, I would say almost all around the world.”
“I had huge support from my partner and wife to be Jessica. That she helped me grow the business a lot, being a lawyer. It was very easy for her to communicate with customers and sort out and negotiate everything that has to do with small private functions or parties. So, I could focus more on the daily operations.”
Now Zaharof prepares to head to Greece to marry his partner Jessica later this month and finds life much more “happier and interesting” after welcoming their child last year.
