PRESERVING TRADITION: TSAROUCHAS RESTAURANT’S JOURNEY THROUGH GENERATIONS

Dimitris Tsarouchas on the Challenges and Joys of Running a Historic Family Restaurant

by Iryna Stryha, Lale Khoshnoud

Tsarouchas is a restaurant in Thessaloniki (Olympou 78), founded by two brothers — Nikos and Grigoris Tsarouchas in 1952. It’s famous for its Patsas (tripe soup) and serves dishes from traditional Greek cuisine. Since the day the place was open, the eatery has traveled through decades, changing with the city.

We got a chance to interview the current owner, Dimitris Tsarouchas, from the second generation of the owners, and we got some insights about the place, the struggles he had to get through, and the vision and hopes for the future.

Can you tell us about your family’s restaurant’s history and your story in it? How has it been passed down through generations?

This family restaurant started in 1952 and has a 72-year history. It began with my uncle and my father — brothers Tsarouchas. I’m continuing the history of the place from 1996 until today, so it’s the second generation of this restaurant. My big value is my name; it has many years of value. Though the place has been passed down not only by name.

I began working here when I was 12 years old. Every summer, when I didn’t have school, I would come here with a bicycle — and I was an assistant waiter. I took care of the bread, water, plates, tables and chairs, all this. So it’s been passed down not only by name but also by work. I’ve known this work for years, and I am 51, so I have a lot of experience.

Can you tell us about the traditional dishes your restaurant is known for? Do you add new recipes to your menu?

We keep the old recipes. The main food we are famous for all over the world is Patsas (tripe soup). It’s a soup that we make in a boiler of 200 liters. We are making this soup 24 hours per day, again and again we put fresh meat and boil it non-stop. This soup is very popular, it has 33% collagen. After bouzouki and alcohol, people come here to cure their stomach, because this collagen fills the holes and damages inside, and makes the stomach feel better, to recover it after drinking. That’s the reason we are open 24 hours per day.

We have many food types added to our menu, but with respect for traditional recipes. For example, chicken filet with mushrooms, fresh red peppers, onions — in a casserole. This with tomatoes in the oven, or with rice — it’s an old dish, but we serve it nowadays. We use only fresh ingredients everyday. Tomatoes, onions, garlic. Those are ingredients that must be fresh everyday — mediterranean cuisine.

How do you make sure your restaurant stays current and attracts new customers?

The promotion of the company is different now. Today everything works on social media. We have a lot of customers from all over the world, because we have very good reviews on Google, Tripadvisor, and we also have a lot of followers on Facebook and Instagram. And soon we will start making videos on Tiktok, because a lot of people today view it. We’re following the present to stand good in the future.

What do you think is the most special aspect of your place that keeps customers coming over the years?

We have three generations of customers. I will tell you a story that happened 10 years ago, when I was renovating the place. A customer from the second generation — his father had been coming to the restaurant since 1960 — came with his son here, and said: “Mr Tsarouchas, I read on the glass outside that you will make a full renovation. I know this place from my father, and this place, it’s a stable value in the history of the city and Greece for me, just like the White Tower or Acropolis. Why do you want to remake something here?” I told him: “Relax, this renovation will be done with respect to the past. The place will remain familiar to your father, and your son will see it as it was many years ago. But, cleaner, lighter. The marbles — like the old marbles in the tables. The old chair — but new and clean. So, relax”. He came after the renovation, and said that everything was how he knew it to be, so he felt relieved.

It’s challenging to have new customers everyday, but it’s even more difficult to have three continuous generations of customers. We try to do our best everyday. And the food is something complicated, because the stomach of every man is different everyday.

Also the tourists in Thessaloniki, it’s the first year that we have 12 months of tourism. After Covid a lot of people from all over the world come to visit, so we have customers from New Zealand, Alaska, Australia, China, and not only the traditional tourists like Germans, Italians, French. We are located in the historical center of the city, close to ancient sights. And the tourists read reviews: “What’s your restaurant? Oh, 24 hours per day, okay. Traditional Greek food, okay”. Not only Gyros and burgers and some street food. It’s easy food, not fast food. That’s the reason we have more customers.

How do you see the future of the restaurant? Do you plan to change something?

The future is a really big question. Not only for our restaurant, but all over the world. For example Covid – during three years, the restaurant was closed with 20 employees without a job. In the season of Covid, we had only the takeaway, and delivery, not the tables. What can I do as the restaurant owner to have money for all the employees? The state has a minimum wage, but with the money the restaurant made then, it was not enough. So, an anthropological situation for me. I have two shifts of people in my restaurant, day and night-shift. We stopped being open at night, and people who worked night-shifts started working part-time during the day, with people who worked day-shifts, who also had a part-time job now. To leave all of the 20 people, not fire them. It was a very difficult situation, not only for me, but for all the people. Not only for the sanitary of the situation, but the reality of the people that work and live here. So, the future… I’m a positive man, and I see that tourism goes better in my country. I believe in God, and I try everyday to do my best, for my people, for my customers. That’s all.

As for changing something, I think everything is traditional, pure, good, and approved. It’s not good to change it. It’s good to keep and to refresh it, but the same. In the days that most people eat plastic food and fast food, we say “Kratame Thermopyles” — a quote from the ancient Spartan warriors in Thermopylae fighting the Persian people. It meant, we stand here, three hundred Spartans, with millions of Persians, but here we are, because we believe in what we’re doing. The reason I’m here is to protect the traditional Greek cuisine. So what can I change? What must change? I only want to refresh it.