BARLAS FAMILY
The uninformed come up with a variety of wacky explanations for the success of Greek people in the restaurant industry.
Some whisper about a Greek mafia. Less imaginative folks suggest they all hang together and help each other. Others believe they are somehow naturally suited to the preparation and presentation of food.
Forget the off-the-wall race and conspiracy theories. The real reason almost 40 per cent of the restaurants in Saskatoon are owned and operated by people of Greek origin is dedication, hard work and a willingness to forgo the comforts of a consumer society.
A typical example is the success of Manolis and Louis Barlas, who began as kitchen staff and became owners in less than five years.
“For us, the restaurant is our life,” says Manolis, who shares ownership of Mano’s Restaurant on Idylwyld with his brother Louis. “We put lots of effort into our work. When we first opened here, we worked 16 hours a day, seven days a week for four years to get it going.
“We don’t want to be millionaires, we just want to make a good living,” he said.
Manolis Barlas emigrated to Canada in 1977 on the sponsorship of his brother- in-law, Steve Arvanitis, who owns and operates the Station Place.
The Barlas brothers were born in Haradros, a village in the Peloponnesos region of Greece. Their father subsisted with a small tavern, where he served his own wine and prepared food from ingredients, he raised himself.
Manolis moved to Athens as a youth and worked at a variety of aimless occupations, including a three-year stint in the Greek army. “The economy in Greece was very tough at the time,” he said.
“After getting out of the army I went out to face the market and it was very hard to make a living. “People used to tell me in Greece that if I ever got a chance to go to Canada, just go, don’t hesitate, so that’s what 1 did.”
When Barlas arrived in Canada, he had little money and spoke no English. He managed to get a job in the kitchen at Venice House on Eighth Street and started to build a life for himself.
Manolis and Louis Barlas, owners of Mano’s Restaurant on Idylwyld: “The restaurant is our life.” (Photo by Glen Berger)
“When I came here, I didn’t know the language, I didn’t know the law, I didn’t know the customs, the market, nothing. “For the first three years,I had my ears open for anything. It’s incredible how much a person can learn when he wants to.
“I would finish work at two in the morning. Go home and read for three hours. I tried to learn as fast as I could because if you can’t learn the language, what can you do here?”
Because of the culture and language barrier, Barlas’s life soon settled into a spartan routine of work and sleep.
Two years after he arrived, Barlas sponsored the immigration of his younger brother Louis, who immediately started working as a dishwasher at Venice House on 33rd Street, where Manolis was then manager.
“You come here with dreams and work very hard to make them come true,” said Louis. “Social life is always second to your goals. When you come here you have a hard time getting into the lifestyle because it is very different from Greece.
“So, you start working and your life becomes, work, go home, get up, go to work, go home. You get used to it after a while and you don’t worry about other things. You just work to make some security by having a job and getting some money.”
One thing the Barlas brothers brought with them from Greece was the independent entrepreneurial spirit which characterizes the Greeks, although there is little outlet for it in the disorganization and bureaucracy of the Greek economy.
“Greeks always want to do better than the other guy and we like to work for ourselves,” says Manolis. “In Greece, there is a very high number of people working for themselves. For every 50 people, there is one business.”
In 1981 the Barlas brothers invested $30,000 of their own money and secured financing for a 70-seat operation on Idylwyld which they designed and set up themselves. “We had the experience, but it was difficult for the money because interest rates were around 21.5 per cent when we opened,” said Manolis.
The Barlases weathered the recession, and even managed to double the restaurant’s capacity within a year of opening.
The Barlases’ formula for success has been a simple combination of hard work and attention to the customer. “We try to offer people good food, good prices and good service, and make sure that we are here to make sure things are running smoothly,” says Louis. “We also like to stay on top of things. We don’t like to have the place run down. We like to feel comfortable here ourselves because we spend more time here than anybody else.”
“You also have to put the time and effort into it,” says Manolis. “You can’t treat it like a nine-to-five job or get someone else to run it while you go to Hawaii for holidays. “Our busiest times are weekends and holidays, when everyone else is out having a good time.”
The Barlas brothers say they get a lot of satisfaction from pleasing their customers. They are currently adding 40 seats at Mano’s, and plan to open a second location when the timing is right.
Since opening Mano’s, they have also brought another brother and their father to Canada.
“It doesn’t matter what (how much money) you make; it’s what your plans are that counts,” says Manolis. “If I lost everything today, I would be able to start something up again because I have the right attitude.”
Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, January 17, 1987, p. 78 – 79.