The $100 Million Family-Owned Greek Restaurant Empire Taking On Nobu And Carbone

Forbes

Costas Spiliadis’ Milos hospitality kingdom has eleven restaurants from Miami to Dubai, along with yachts for charter and a boutique hotel in Greece. And he remains hungry for new ventures.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloesorvino/2024/08/01/costas-spiladias-milos-100-million-family-owned-greek-restaurant-empire/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Today on Forbes, the $100 million family-owned Greek restaurant empire taking on Nobu and

00:07Carbone.

00:10It's lunchtime in midtown Manhattan, and Estiatorio Milos is bustling.

00:15Inside the modern Greek restaurant that opened in 1997, a stone well from Crete, circa 1700,

00:22greets guests, and a cascade of whole fish, prawns, and shellfish is displayed on a spotlighted

00:28mound of ice.

00:30Emerging from the hum of business diners eating grilled octopus is Costas Spiliadis, the 78-year-old

00:36founder of this flagship and the restaurant empire behind it.

00:41He sits down at a white tablecloth-lined place setting and contemplates the freshest selection

00:45of the day.

00:47Spiliadis begins to share the story of how he expanded the original Milos in Montreal

00:52into an iconic New York seafood restaurant, as well as 10 others spanning from Las Vegas

00:57to Dubai.

00:59Four more, including in Palm Beach and Toronto, are nearly open.

01:04In Greece, Spiliadis owns a boutique hotel in Athens, as well as two yachts available

01:09for charter.

01:11Those businesses are only the start of how he has been diversifying his luxury hospitality

01:15portfolio.

01:17Spiliadis' Milos Empire, named for the Greek island he often visited, until it became too

01:22touristy, is now one of the most powerful family-owned firms in luxury hospitality.

01:28The business, 100% owned by Spiliadis and his kin, exceeds $100 million in annual revenue,

01:35and in an era when outside funding is pouring into the industry to replicate popular restaurants

01:41around the world, Spiliadis is charting growth on his own terms.

01:47Chef Nobu Matsuhisa's 21 US restaurants brought in sales of $190 million in 2023, according

01:53to Technomic, a Chicago-based food industry consultancy.

01:58New York-based Major Food Group, with more than 50 restaurants worldwide, including Carbone,

02:03is estimated to have as much as $500 million in annual sales.

02:08Unlike Milos, competitors had to secure big checks to grow into nine-figure businesses.

02:13Nobu, for example, has raised an estimated $100 million to expand.

02:19Milos is also succeeding as high-end restaurant deals have been heating up.

02:23In 2022, the Howard Hughes Corporation acquired a minority stake in Jean Georges restaurants

02:30for $55 million.

02:32In 2023, the billionaire Mark Sheinberg's Mohari acquired the Tao Group in a $550 million

02:39leveraged buyout that valued the group of 80 restaurants with $485 million in annual

02:44revenue at $822 million.

02:48But Spiliadis keeps brushing off investors.

02:51He says,

02:52"...we had a choice of either going the corporate way of growth, where we create a very strong

02:57corporate central office, or what I chose instead, the family model of growth, with

03:03all the pain that comes with it.

03:05Although it may put some limit to the pace of growth, at least you grow with less dangers

03:09of losing your identity, losing your character, and losing all you're trying to build."

03:15Spiliadis continues,

03:16"...using cash flow to build new restaurants is a slower process, but it's more solid.

03:22We control the character of our restaurants.

03:24That would be my biggest nightmare, to go to one of my restaurants and not recognize

03:28my soul there."

03:31The odyssey of Milos began six decades ago when he left home in Greece and ended up in

03:36Montreal.

03:38After graduating from Concordia University, he helped open a local radio station and then

03:42decided to open a spot where his radio guests could eat or even perform live after coming

03:47on air.

03:48He took out a $30,000 loan from a local bank in 1979 and became a restaurateur.

03:55He had never cooked professionally before, but he knew his mother's recipes.

03:59Spiliadis says,

04:01"...I had nothing.

04:02I had no money.

04:03I had no experience.

04:04I had no knowledge of cooking.

04:06All I knew was how I enjoyed food at home.

04:09I had to learn how to run a restaurant the hard way, in an unforgiving market.

04:13It meant dedication.

04:14It meant persistence.

04:15It meant hard work and learning at the same time."

04:19With his first restaurant in Montreal, Spiliadis altered the concept to revolve around the

04:24freshest seafood he could secure each day.

04:27He recalls,

04:28"...I didn't feel like Greek restaurants were representing the food and the culinary

04:32experience that I grew up with in my family."

04:37For full coverage, check out Chloé Sorvino's piece on Forbes.com.

04:42This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

04:45Thanks for tuning in.

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