One satisfied customer

Hospitality was the cornerstone of Perry Ginakes' family business

By: Graham McDonald

Perry Ginakes built his life the way many Greek immigrants of his generation did: one restaurant, one long day and one satisfied customer at a time.

Ginakes, who was 83 when he died on Oct. 1, was born in the town of Niata, Greece, on Feb. 21, 1942. He immigrated to Canada at the age of 14 in 1956, following several relatives, including his siblings, who had already immigrated to Winnipeg and Fargo, N.D.

His family had immigrated to North America in waves that started with his great-uncles.

“At that time, many people from the small Greek town of Niata — where my great-grandfather, father and uncles were from — had already immigrated to the U.S. Midwest, often sponsoring relatives to join them,” Ginakes’s nephew Pete said.

Ginakes’s father, however, was unable to follow his siblings.

“In the 1930s, my grandfather also hoped to join his brothers in Fargo, but he was unable to emigrate due to the Second World War,” Pete said.

Ginakes finally arrived in Winnipeg in 1956, following in the footsteps of his brothers Jimmy, who arrived in 1952, and John, who arrived in 1954.

Although his sisters and a few aunts also lived in Winnipeg, initially Ginakes was without his parents.

Ginakes wanted to be an accountant, but was convinced by his older brothers to join them in the restaurant business.

Before arriving in Canada, the family didn’t have a tradition of running restaurants; they had been farmers.

“When they came to this country… the restaurant business definitely wasn’t something they had brought from Greece with them. They came from almost like a farming village,” Ginakes’s son Peter said. “This was the simplest way to get into business.

“It was definitely something he only learned when he got here.”

Ginakes started his career young, while still in his teens, and took to it with zeal.

On their own in Canada, the young Ginakes family stuck together to get by.

“Whatever dollar you made went right back into the business, so the three brothers relied on each other. He would tell stories of how he would go with his sisters and do grocery shopping,” Peter said.

“Everybody had their role in the household as well. Not just in the business, but they also had to take care of the house, so they all had their money kind of pooled together. It was all one group effort.”

Ginakes worked at the family’s Danny’s Quick Lunch at Main Street and Euclid Avenue, then the Thunderbird Restaurant in 1961 and finally the Town ’N’ Country supper club in the 1970s.

Owing to his fondness for numbers, Ginakes dealt with the bookkeeping and financial aspects of the restaurants’ operations.

Ginakes’s entrepreneurial spirit took him far and he ended up founding or operating his own restaurants, including Studio 44, Rib Shack, Thunderdog, Kosta’s and Perry’s.

According to his son, Ginakes was particularly proud of the Rib Shack menu and his favourite dish to serve was the Greek-style ribs.

Ginakes didn’t learn English until he arrived in Canada, but with the help of his outgoing and personable nature, he overcame that challenge.

“He was very much a people person. He very much enjoyed the interactions, getting to know the customers, new customers, staff,” Peter said. “He always wanted to know about you.

“He was always willing to listen to people, either their problems or their success.”

Although he remembered Greece fondly, Peter said his father only went back seldomly, probably only three or four times over his life.

Unlike other Greek families that immigrated to Canada and still had extended family in the old country, the Ginakes family moved wholesale to North America, making trips back less of a necessity.

Ginakes had been planning another trip shortly before he died.

He was also a lifelong lover of Greek culture and was a member of AHEPA, the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association, which works to promote Greek heritage and Hellenic culture throughout North America, for more than five decades.

Ginakes and his family later moved to Sarnia, Ont., where they lived for a decade before returning to Winnipeg, when he opened Winnipeg’s second Pony Corral franchise location with his brother Jimmy.

Peter has continued the family’s profession of being a restaurateur and, together with his brother Dino, runs the Bell Tower Café at the University of Manitoba.

Like many immigrants, Ginakes wanted to ensure an easier life for his children.

“I think what motivated him was first, taking care of his family,” Peter said. “I think when you come from very little, that’s always kind of their No. 1 priority.”

He also had an unfailing work ethic.

“Hard work, I think my father always instilled that in me… I never knew a day up until the day he died that he wasn’t working.”

Peter added his dad was also driven by a desire to succeed with his businesses. Not just in monetary terms; he wanted to make sure that every customer walked away satisfied.

In Ginakes’s mind, if a job was worth doing, it was worth doing well.

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca