Business Person of the Year – Gus Vasilarakis

BUSINESS PERSON OF THE YEAR

A MONUMENTAL CAREER

Gus Vasilarakis wins 2021 Business Person of the Year from the Brandon Chamber of Commerce

Gus Vasilarakis is the owner and manager for Pizza Express & Submarine, a company that celebrates their 40th anniversary next year.

For Gus Vasilarakis, the activities that he did the first day he came to Canada in 1979 are the same things he does today.

Vasilarakis is the owner and manager for Pizza Express & Submarine, a company that celebrates their 40th anniversary next year. Vasilarakis immigrated to Brandon in 1979 from a small island village called Diafani, Karpathos in the south of Greece when he was 14 years old. The day he arrived he went to work right away at his uncle Emmanuel’s pizza restaurant. “It was first thing in the morning on a Saturday and he said, ‘oh, you have to come with me’. I was 14 and didn’t know what was going on, I thought he would take me to show me around Brandon,” says Vasilarakis. “He took me straight to work and I started working at 11 a.m. in the morning cleaning the pizza pans, making the dough, and telling me ‘get me this, get me that.’ Later that night he took me to a Wheat Kings game. That was my first day in Canada and I’ve been making pizzas and watching hockey ever since.”

After a few years working in his uncle’s

pizza restaurant, Vasilarakis, his brother, his mother and his father, who originally came to Canada working as a carpenter in Gillam and Thompson, ended up opening their own pizza restaurant, Pizza Express, on October 23, 1982, exactly three years to the day that he came to Canada. The whole Vasilarakis family worked there, including his uncle (who had already sold his original pizza restaurant), and a cousin from Baltimore. After a few years, the family sold the restaurant and moved to Winnipeg where Vasilarakis opened a new Pizza Express in the St. James area of the city.

The Winnipeg Pizza Express restaurant was a dinein concept with a lounge and VLTs, and quickly became a popular place in the area. They ended up opening a second takeout location on St. Mary’s Road in Winnipeg. Vasilarakis sold both Winnipeg restaurants in 1998 and moved back to Brandon to be closer to family. In 1990, Vasilarakis bought back the original Pizza Express and has owned and operated it ever since.

Vasilarakis recently took home the 2021 Business Person of the Year Award at the Chamber’s Business Achievement Awards event.

“I was very surprised, honoured, and humbled for receiving the award. This award is dedicated to all the small business owners out there who work very hard each and every day,” says Vasilarakis.

Although it’s his name on the trophy, Vasilarakis quickly credits his family and his amazing staff, both past and present, for making Pizza Express a lasting success. Vasilarakis also recognizes and thanks the Brandon community for all their love and support over the years.

“I’m a small business guy who has been fortunate enough to have some success. I’m so thankful that our community has embraced my family and our business. Without the support of the community, we would be nothing.” ¢

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