Olives and Olive Oil – Specialized Shop Here you will find a wide variety of authentic Greek products such as quality olive oil, olives and more

Panagiotis Mintsidis is most proud of the service in his small shop for authentic Greek olive oil, olives, salads, pasta, spices. He says that once customers enter the shop they feel like gods. High quality and low prices attract customers from all over Sofia and he’s planning to open a chain of stores in different parts of the capital.

(scroll down for the interview)

Panagiotis Mintsidis comes from Alexandroupolis. He comes to Bulgaria as a student in 1989-1990 to study Journalism and Mass Communication at Sofia University. He liked living in the capital and in 1998 decided to start a business here and registered his first company. Since then he’s been living and working in Sofia.

The store opened in September 2013 and quickly proved to be a complete success. Bulgarians love traditional Greek food and look for something authentic and of good quality. Panagiotis’ customers come from all areas of the capital – they know very well what they come for and what they pay for. This made him dream of a chain of at least 4-5 stores in Sofia. High quality salads, olives, olive oil, spices, pasta – they all sell very well. Soon Panagiotis will start selling more fresh salads that will come directly from Thessaloniki. “If we prepare them here, we can’t achieve the same taste,” he explains his decision.

Panagiotis likes Greek and Bulgarian cuisine. He doesn’t have a favorite dish, but he has a strong childhood memory of moussaka.

Although he generally likes Bulgaria, Panagiotis admits that there are some things that he doesn’t like. Warm Greek attitude is what he misses the most. He is critical of the service in stores, the lack of smiles and warmth towards the customer and is proud that in his store customers get the best service.

Interview: Bistra Ivanova
Photos: Stefan Suchev
Translation from Bulgarian: Boyan Boychev
Illustration: Rositsa Raleva for Compote Collective
14 November 2014