Yiros Shop’s thirst for sustainable growth

Nick Mitrossilis, the founder of The Yiros Shop, has reached a turning point with his business just five years after experiencing strong growth, as the popular restaurant has expanded beyond his initial expectations of running just a handful of points of sale.

Having started with a single store in Brisbane’s James Street area in 2015, the onset of the pandemic was a defining moment for the young entrepreneur who put together everything he had learned and is now on course to almost double the chain’s footprint in southeast Queensland next year. .

Mitrossilis, winner of the Hospitality & Tourism category of the Brisbane Young Entrepreneurs Awards 2022plans to add eight more new locations to its growing business, which has until now been largely built on a proprietary model.

It was at the end of its first years in business that Mitrossilis knew it needed to find the right formula if it wanted to continue growing, including a back office that could help it grow its business in emphasizing the introduction of the latest technologies. and improve the customer experience.

He also had to do it without compromising the quality of the product that had helped him build customer loyalty.

“When we started, our plan was just to open three stores,” Mitrossilis says. Business News Australia.

“It took about four or five years that we really started looking at key areas of the business to make sure we were on the right path to sustainable growth. If you can’t get the essentials like labor and cost of goods under control, your business won’t work.

Mitrossilis says the popularity of The Yiros Shop offering allowed it to open its second store in just eight months and within two years the network had grown to five.

Lessons learned from growing pains

“People really liked our food, but we started to see some cracks in the armor where we weren’t consistent in certain places. We ended up hiring secret shoppers to help us take a closer look at the company. Since then, we have been building a brand rather than a small business.

The Yiros Shop currently has 12 stores in its network, including two drive-thru locations, with only two franchise-operated stores. Mitrossilis plans to add eight more over the next year after recently boosting its head office support operations to manage up to 30 stores. More drive-thru services are planned as site opportunities arise.

The young entrepreneur began his business journey after moving from Sydney to Brisbane and discovering a shortage of quality yiros – a popular Greek takeaway which, he stresses, should not be confused with a late-night kebab .

“It’s a traditional Greek fast food and we’ve given it the standards it needs,” he says.

“It starts with the bread, the tzatziki sauce, which we prepare in our own factory, as well as the onions and tomatoes. We use real meats and put the fries inside, which is the traditional way of doing it in Greece. It’s very simple, but it’s the quality of the product that stands out: real food that people enjoy and can taste the difference.

“We have never changed what we have done since day one. We’ve spent a lot of time and effort on marketing and our branding, but consistency in our products has always been our primary focus.

Sharpen the business through vertical integration

This consistency has been furthered by The Yiros Shop establishing its own wholesale production facility that provides its restaurants with approximately 20 percent of the cost of goods sold.

Marketed under the Midas Mediterranean brand, the production branch was able to consolidate the contribution of four previous suppliers by manufacturing tzatziki, vegetable pancakes and pita breads used by The Yiros Shop network.

“We plan to consolidate three more suppliers into our factory over the next year to supply more than 65 percent of our products to our restaurants,” says Mitrossilis.

“This will give us more control over our supply chain and control the cost of goods sold to our restaurants. This also helps reduce errors in ordering from so many suppliers and reduces final paperwork for each restaurant.

“As we grow, this will help us control costs in our stores and truly ensure a supply of essential ingredients. »

The Yiros store has also placed a greater emphasis on in-store technology to improve the customer experience and increase efficiency – a move that has been accelerated by COVID lockdowns.

“We signed up with Uber Eats, which boosted our delivery market, and right before COVID hit we had our own app. We have since refined this and replaced our POS software with ordering kiosks in stores. This has really been a priority for us – a pickup of face-to-face orders.

“Purchasing the hardware is an expensive process, as well as the resources needed to build it and adapt it to our system, but the benefits have been enormous. »

Do you want some loukoumades with that?

The increased menu offering is also driving strong revenue gains for the group, with stores up between 20 and 40 per cent compared to the same period last year.

New additions to the Yiros Shop menu include a vegan offering “to ensure we are inclusive and have an offering for everyone.” Mitrossilis also introduced a dessert menu this year, initially traditional Greek honey donuts, baklava and almond shortbread, with plans to expand its offerings over time.

“It was a big boost for us. We’ve never offered dessert and now people can come to us and get a full meal. With our breakfast offer we now cover the whole day: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Rising food costs remain a pressure point for the food sector, but even with supply chain issues and the rising cost of goods, Mitrossilis says The Yiros Shop has been able to manage these challenges while maintaining product quality.

“We’re not very cheap, but you pay for what you get. It’s about giving people what they want, because customers today are smarter than ever. They are spoiled for choice when it comes to food and will happily pay extra for something good.

Lock in capacity, avoid aggressive expansion

Removing the company’s behind-the-scenes operations as well as opening a dedicated headquarters two years ago has been key to Mitrossilis’ expansion plans for The Yiros Shop.

“Before that, we worked from home, even though there were only four of us in the company,” he says.

“We now have 14 employees at the head office and people in every department and we have reinvested all our profits into this machine which can run our business which now has around 350 people in our stores.

“We could have tried harder over the last couple of years, but we really focused on building a backend that could withstand 50 or 100 outlets.

“What we have now can support about 30 locations before we need to add to our current headquarters. We might be a little too heavy right now, but I prefer things this way because it will make the growing process much smoother.

The Yiros Shop plans to continue its expansion in South East Queensland over the next two years, using its local resources and existing supply chains, before looking elsewhere.

“There is certainly an appetite for interstate expansion and we will get there eventually, but we need to be comfortable to make sure the time is right to make that move,” Mitrossilis says.

Franchise is still part of the strategy, but Mitrossilis follows a conservative path.

“The beauty of franchising is we have someone in the store who is their baby. They take care of it. Our managers do the same thing, but it’s a different kind of love when they have skin in the game.

“We could have had more franchise stores, but we are very careful about who we bring on board. I always consider franchisees as business partners because I have to work with them for years.

“A company like ours is always focused on its employees. Because we started a small workshop where we worked every day, we know what it means to be part of a team, which is why we always wanted everyone to have a safe working environment.

“This has been one of the main goals from the beginning. Even though we didn’t have many resources at the beginning, our staff was happy and wanted to support us. This is how we plan to continue to grow our business.