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This is Fred Ball for Zions Bank, speaking on business.
Yanni Armaou knows how difficult it can be to build a restaurant from the ground up. However, he also knows what it feels like when a restaurant not only survives but thrives as his business, Yanni's Greek Express, has.
Yanni immigrated to the United States from Greece in 1975 to attend both BYU and the University of Utah. Later he moved to Virginia and worked there for four years before returning to Utah to start his own business. He opened Yanni's Greek Express on July 26, 1986.
Getting the word out about his new business venture was tough and Yanni spent the first 10 years working 19-hour days with just one employee. In all that time, he only missed three hours of work. Today, Yanni's Greek Express employs 16 people to keep up with customer demand.
The menu boasts traditional Greek items such as souvlaki, gyros and pita bread as well as a variety of traditional American food such as hamburgers, French fries and sandwiches. Yanni serves 100 percent Certified Angus Beef, and he takes pride in using only the highest quality of food to provide the best final product. He tells me he could make more money if he used lower-quality ingredients, but he won't serve his customers anything he wouldn't eat himself.
In 1995, Yanni closed his restaurant for six months to raze the existing structure and build a completely new facility, which opened in April 1996. The building, located on the corner of Highland Drive and 1300 East in Salt Lake City, has nice ambiance with hand-painted decorations, a cheery yellow interior and plenty of seating. Yanni says most of his customers are regulars.
Yanni's persistence and hard work have carried the eatery through the difficult times and enabled Yanni's Greek Express to be successful.
For Zions Bank, I'm Fred Ball. I'm speaking on business.
