foodservice consultants. It was not a mature market.”
As well as sensing an opportunity
in the market, Kioulpapas became fascinated by the stark differences between public and private sector foodservice. “Feeding 10,000-15,000 people in a hospital, educational establishment, large industrial company or army facility is not easy; while, in the private sector, getting the hospitality and commercial activities right is also an impressive feat. Thankfully, in my studies, I had the help of almost everybody I have contacted. Companies were so friendly and gave me support,” he says. Feeling a profound affinity to the sector from these studies, Kioulpapas was not short of job offers when he finished his work in Paris, including from Jacques Borel, founder of Sofitel (which later became part of Accor Group). “That brand paid attention to its kitchens. They said, ‘A good chef needs a good kitchen, functionality and the right equipment for the purpose and comfort’. These people were very helpful to me and told me, ‘If you decide to stay in France, you are welcome to work with us’ I also had offers from the university’s public sector manager to join his catering department. He told me, ‘We don't have experts to give us advice on engineering or layouts’. I kept in my mind that this was an area with good opportunities and great potential.” However, with his father having passed away by this point, Kioulpapas returned to Greece in 1969 and decided to “start something” for himself that capitalized on his country’s booming tourism sector.
“It was an unbelievable time of developing tourism – the hotel industry suddenly became huge. I decided to create my small company [XENEX SA]. I contacted the architects, who were impressed that somebody knew ‘how to make a kitchen’. At this point in time the kitchen was usually designed to go in
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Above: Kioulpapas realized early in his career that educational institutions offered great potential and opportunities
“In 10-15 years we created the largest foodservice activity in Greece, looking after 180 QSR restaurants and 60 coffee shops”
the basement. I remember having many hours of discussions, trying to convince architects not to put the kitchens there. At that time, they were not accustomed to accepting a consultant’s views. There was a lot of resistance.”
Mastering space and time To help overcome that, he immersed himself in the equipment world to see how kitchens could become more pleasant environments for chefs. “In those days, kitchens were so hot. There was usually an oil-heated burner with a big surface area in the middle plus, according to the restaurant size, up to four ovens. There were no
specific pieces of equipment, such as cooking ranges, vertical ovens, fryers, boiling pans, broilers, grills, or griddles. Everything was cooked in the super- hot surface of the burner and the temperature in the core center of the surface would reach 500-600°C. I was astonished how cooks could work in this environment. I was probably among the first who said, ‘Let's use individual, different-purposed pieces of equipment.'” Since then, Kioulpapas has always possessed an innate understanding of the functionality of space and how to organize kitchens from the point of receiving raw materials, to storing, preparing, cooking, serving, and washing. But he made it his business to keep abreast of the latest innovation and kitchen trends during the burgeoning profession in the 1970s and 1980s. “I was very keen to spend money to continuously educate myself. I frequented catering and hotel exhibitions in Europe in the beginning and later in the US too.”
What he did not get too much of a sense of was other foodservice professionals like him breaking into consultancy in Southern Europe. “I was feeling very alone. When I applied to become a member of FCSI, I discovered my closest consultant colleagues only existed in UK, Germany, Switzerland, and some Scandinavian countries. In France, Italy and Spain there were very few of us.” That notwithstanding, Kioulpapas quickly built up a strong reputation, both in consultancy and via a separate food production company that he and his colleagues started in the late 1970s and later sold to Marfin Group. “In that period we created the largest foodservice activity in Greece, looking after 180 QSR restaurants, 60 coffee shops and central production units for the activities of the group, because it quickly became an agglomerate. The central kitchens were producing 80,000 frozen meals per day alone. It was a huge success. We sold the business in late 2010.”
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