HUGELY popular Greek street food vendors Acropolis are preparing for their next stage of expansion with a £250,000 investment into a new kitchen area and offices.
Established in 2016 to bring Greek street food to the north east, Acropolis have since gone from strength to strength, expanding their reach outside of the region to Lincoln and Aberdeen.
While working on another opening at STACK St James’ in Newcastle, Acropolis have invested heavily into new premises at their base in Hoults Yard, Byker. They’ve been headquartered there since 2017 and had previously added an extra unit to their original space. Now they’re adding a third unit to cope with demand.
Acropolis was started by brothers Filip and Viktor Tachan and their friend Yusuf Yenil. Filip and Viktor’s brother Sotirios joined the successful team earlier this year.
Filip, a trained chef who ran a restaurant on his native island, Salamis, Cyprus, came to the UK in 2013 to work in a Newcastle restaurant, a venture which didn’t work out. Filip stayed, finding work at a newsagent and then as a sous chef at a restaurant.
It was at the newsagent that Filip met Yusuf, who is originally from London. Yusuf moved to the north east with his partner, who is from the region.
“Filip and I got chatting and realised we both had a real love for food and talked about starting a Greek street food company,” explained Yusuf.
They both worked at a restaurant for several months while setting up the company, and were then joined by Filip’s older brother Viktor in the fledgling venture.
Since then multi-award winning Acropolis has become a staple of the regional food scene – with outlets at several STACKs (including Seaburn, St James’ Lincoln and Aberdeen), and restaurants in Jesmond, the Grainger Market, HWKR LAND, and Aberdeen. Acropolis also regularly appear at food and drink festivals across the north east and beyond.
Earlier this year, the Acropolis team opened Zenobia, an upmarket Arabian restaurant in Chillingham Road, Heaton.
“We’re really proud of what we’ve achieved in a relatively short period of time. We’ve grown well beyond our expectations since we first set up – I think our success is down to getting the product right, working hard and looking after our team,” said Filip.
That team is currently about 70 strong – and about to expand further when the St James’ STACK opens in a few weeks.
“We think by the end of this year, we’ll have between 90 to 100 employees. Our Hoults Yard expansion will future proof our business for years to come. We are still really ambitious and always keen to look at the next opportunity,” said Viktor.
Substantial growth is forecast for next year, with five or six more outlets planned – including another in the north east. Which is why the extended kitchen space and new offices at Hoults Yard are needed.
The expansion has been aided by the introduction of two franchise offers – one for franchisees based at permanent premises and another for those planning a mobile business.
Both Acropolis outlets in Aberdeen are franchises.
“We’ve known our franchisee in Aberdeen for a long time – he was a big part of our team here for several years and understands the company and the way we do things. It’s great to see him doing so well,” said Yusuf.
“We still prepare the meat and sauces from Hoult Yard to ensure the quality is consistent. We try really hard to source regional products where we can.”
Victor added: “We’re proud to be based in the north east and we’ll soon be adding a very special dish to our menus – a Geordie Gyro! The difference will be that the gyro will be served in a stottie rather than a wrap.”
The Geordie Gyro will be the latest in several additions to the Acropolis menu.
Filip explained: “We’re always looking to refresh our menus, while still serving up the old favourites. In the wake of the Covid pandemic we reduced our menu, but we’ve been building it back again since then, and added new dishes such as loukaniko (Greek sausage), chicken souvlaki, halloumi rolls and spinach and feta pies.”
Along the way, the quality of Acropolis’s food has been recognised in a series of awards, the most recent of which was two weeks ago when they scooped the café/food to go category in the North of England Region food awards.
Laura Goldston, General Manager at Hoults Yard, said: “We’re thrilled to see Acropolis enjoy such success and delighted that they will continue their expansion at the Yard. We’ve been working closely with them to identify the right space for their plans and we’ll be watching proudly as they continue to grow as a company.
“Acropolis street food has always been really popular on the Yard so their success came as no surprise to us.”
For more information about Acropolis and to find out where you can find them, log on to www.acropolisstreetfood.co.uk
To find out more about Haylofts and HyHubs, who operate Hoults Yard, Haylofts and Hypoint in Gateshead, go to www.hyhubs.com