Commercial Realtor John Gelastopoulos (above) started over 30 years ago taking a chance to max out his credit to invest in an existing Pacific Beach restaurant.
This year, he’s celebrating the 46th anniversary of the Broken Yolk restaurant chain, which he purchased when it was a 14-year-old single business in 1993 at 1851 Garnet Ave. Having begun franchising in 2007, Gelastopoulos has since overseen the growth of his full-service diner transforming it into an “eggpire.” It now encompasses 40 locations with about 1,400 employees in five states.
“I don’t work here,” joked Gelastopoulos. “They give me a cup of coffee. Sometimes they give me something to eat. I’m happy.”
The restaurateur said the secret of his business success is no secret. “Anybody can give you two eggs – it’s how they give them to you,” he said adding, “We’re innovators. We have to be.”
Noting the restaurant trade is also a “people business,” Gelastopoulos added that, to be successful, “You need to show passion: You need to work with a heart.”
Of his business philosophy, Gelastopoulos said a mentor once told him: “You need to work hard and good things will happen. Never think about the money. And since then, that’s what I’ve been practicing. When you’re generous, it comes back. That’s how I run my business. That’s what I relate to my employees. I tell them to embrace the guests.”
Gelastopoulos immigrated from Greece to the States at age 17. He started from the bottom in the restaurant trade washing dishes as an employee in the kitchen in big hotels, before briefly selling commercial real estate.
Purchasing Broken Yolk wasn’t easy for Gelastopoulos, It took all his available credit at the time and 1 ½ years to close the deal. And, the restaurant wasn’t attracting a lot of customer traffic early on. It was a problem he rectified interestingly.
“The first two or three weeks I was worrying what to do (about business volume),” he said noting he resolved that by calling 40 or 50 business contacts in his Rolodex and inviting them, and their families, to come down to his restaurant on the weekend. “The place was packed and things took off after a couple of months and we built momentum,” he said of the result, adding what he learned from the experience was “people attract people.”
Gelastopoulos said it’s all about we, not me, throughout Broken Yolk’s network. “I have 45 or 50 families here in PB that depend on me,” he said. “I’m under pressure. I better do well.”
The restaurateur said Broken Yolk stays fresh and current by continuously re-evaluating and re-creating its menu. “We get a new idea and we create a new plate which we pilot for a month getting the feedback from the customers and then, if they like it, it goes on the menu,” Gelastopoulos said of how they revise Broken Yolk’s menu system-wide every six months. “People want something new, something refreshing,” he added.
Of their latest menu innovations, Gelastopoulos noted: “People like sweet and savory (tastes). Our No. 1 item, other than the traditional bacon and eggs, is eggs Benedict with Hollandaise sauce. We have six Benedicts now. And of course, we have some Latin flavors. Those are very good sellers.”
Gelastopoulos spoke of one of his latest menu innovations. “It’s a French toast with Hawaiian bread that we call Tiki toast,” he said adding guests’ requests to consider new menu items are “always taken under consideration.” He cited, as one example, breakfast skillets, which customers requested and are now staples on Broken Yolk’s ever-evolving menu.
Gelastopoulos talked about his greatest asset. “I have good people, and I’m very fortunate,” he concluded. “I have a good team.”
