Village Squire, 1977-10, Page 17Ted Kotsanis and Jim Kotsanis look extremely happy with their business as they pose behind the bar.
Want to run
a small town restaurant?
Be ready for long hours
and hard work
BY DEBBIE RANNEY
"Being at the top is easy but it's hard staying there." That's a
slogan that Jim Kotsanis remembers and that's why he puts in as
much as 100 hours a week at his restaurant, the Maitland
Restaurant and Tavern in Wingham.
With an atmosphere that's cozy and decorous but not
pretentious, the restaurant provides a friendly and family
atmosphere which seems right at home in a place like Wingham.
Jim should know a lot about restaurants by now. He's worked
in about 17 or 20 starting when he was 14 years old. He came to
Canada from Greece in 1963 and started washing dishes at the
Holiday Inn in London when he was 14. Two months later, he
was promoted to short-order cook. He finished high school at
night in London and took a few subjects at Fanshawe College for
a while. He opened up his first place in Grand Bend, a take-out
stand, he then had another restaurant in London for about five or
six years and then he moved to Wingham.
But Jim is not alone in his work, however strenuous the hours
may be. His brother Ted who came to Canada 13 years ago and
worked for at least eight years in the restaurant business as well
as working in various other places is in partnership with him and
helps with the cooking and the running of the restaurant.
Jim likes the small town friendliness of Wingham. He said that
in the city the people are always in a rush, they want fast service
and cheap food but in Wingham, he says people can appreciate
the food, people are friendlier and the competition is less.
"I find Wingham is a good town, we are doing well and the
people --we are getting a good response from them."
Jim says if you want the same kind of response from people in
the city --an appreciation of the food, you have to have a fancy
place with high prices.
It's obvious that high prices are not something the brothers
stick in their menu as full course meals range in price from $2.65
to $7.75. Family clientele is the business they aim for, or at least
VILLAGE SQUIRE/OCTOBER 1977, 15.