FOOD INDUSTRY NEWS NOVEMBER 2021
-11
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INDUSTRY NEWS FOUNDED 1982
NOVEMBER 2021 DEDICATED TO HELPING FOOD BUSINESS OWNERS TO SUCCEEDMike Bousis Transcript
CERMAK FRESH MARKET OPENS ITS NEWEST STORE
Even before Cermak Fresh Market owner Mike Bousis opened his newest location at 5129 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago, he had an impressive career. He started working in his father’s and uncle’s store when he was 12 years old, sweeping floors and loading and unloading trucks, among other jobs there. Along the way, he learned the business, and at 21, he became the produce buyer for six or seven stores, he says. Bousis opened his first store in Naperville at the age of 27, sold it five or six years later, opened his Aurora store, then two locations in Wisconsin, followed by two more sites on Chicago’s Northwest Side. It all started in 1986 with what was then called Central Park Produce, at the intersection of Central Park and Grand avenues and Division Street, by his father, Dimitrious “Jimmy” Bousis, and his father’s partner, Pantelis “Pandelo” Tzotzolis. The two founders, who were were Greek immigrants, eventually opened Cermak Produce on Cermak Road and Cicero Avenue in Cicero. “We first started out just as a fruit stand, then Continued on page 31
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AROUND CHICAGO ...................... 20
BUYERS’ DIRECTORY .............. 33-35
CHEF PROFILE ...........................10
NATIONAL NEWS ........................ 24
LOCAL NEWS ............................ 16
NUGGETS ................................ 32
CLASSIFIEDS/BUS. FOR SALE ..... 36-39
PEOPLE SELLING THE INDUSTRY ..... 41
DINING WITH MS. X ...................... 6
TRAVEL .................................. 46
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