A “Foodie” Family Tradition Pete Countouris was born into the food industry. His family’s food roots were planted in 1912 when his grandfather opened a Coney Island hot dog restaurant on the east side of Pittsburgh. His father proceeded to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps, opening a “streetcar” diner in the city. Pete and his brother worked in their father’s restaurant as teenagers and young adults until they decided to open a family-style restaurant of their own, “Drew’s Family Restaurant.” In the meantime, Pete obtained a degree in business administration and management from Duquesne University, which furthered his knowledge of how to own and operate a business. Combining his experience and love for food with his new knowledge of business, Pete decided to take the plunge and ventured out on his own, opening “Pete’s Island Grill,” which was a 230-seat restaurant, part of a sports complex along the Ohio River. 12
Summer 2021 Issue
He owned and operated the business before selling it and joining Masonic Village. Through all of Pete’s experiences and successes within the food industry, he’s learned several lessons. However, there’s one he shared that resonates with him the most: “It doesn’t matter how good your marinara sauce is. What matters is your return on investment.” Today, Pete uses his several decades of experience and several generations of influence to shine in his role as the director of food services at Masonic Village at Sewickley. His days are very different from the time he spent working in and owning family restaurants, but he “loves it.” “With restaurants, there’s lots of dollars and cents involved and lots of time commitment,” Pete said. “I worked seven days a week. Masonic Village has basically changed my lifestyle.” Pete added that transitioning to Masonic Village wasn’t “too hard” because he “already had a reputation.”
