Taziki's Archives - Business RadioX ®

Joe Summerour and Eric Williams, Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe

January 3, 2024 by John Ray

North Fulton Business Radio

Joe Summerour and Eric Williams, Taziki's Mediterranean Cafe

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Joe Summerour and Eric Williams, Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 735)

On this episode of North Fulton Business Radio, host John Ray spoke with Joe Summerour and Eric Williams, both of whom work for Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe in the Metro Atlanta region. They reflected on the company’s 25-year history, its growth from its inception after founders Keith and Amy Richards returned from an inspiring trip to Greece, up to its current 114 locations nationwide, and plans for further expansion. The conversation also covered Taziki’s emphasis on fresh, healthy Mediterranean-inspired food, commitment to excellent customer service, and investment in its staff. Details of new menu items and news about a new location in Johns Creek were also shared.

Joe Summerour, Atlanta Area Manager, and Eric Willliams, Atlanta Area Marketing, Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe

Eric Williams and Joe Summerour, Taziki's Mediterranean Cafe, Metro Atlanta — **Eric Williams and Joe Summerour, Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe, Metro Atlanta**

Joe Summerour is the Atlanta Area Manager of Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe, and Eric Williams handles Atlanta-area marketing for the company.

Keith and Amy Richards founded Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1998. After a trip to Greece a year earlier, Keith put his culinary skills to work, recreating some of the cuisine and experiences from the region. With a menu patterned after dishes traditionally served in Greek homes, Keith and Amy grew their dream restaurant from one to three locations and then began franchising in 2013 after partnering with Fresh Hospitality. Now at almost 100 units, Taziki’s continues to grow while serving many of the same dishes curated by Keith and Amy’s initial trip to Greece.

From hand-cut meats served with signature sauces to healthy salads filled with fresh fruits and veggies, Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe has mastered the art of creating Mediterranean-inspired dishes that are destined to become your next familiar favorite. At each location, dine-in, carry-out, and catering are available. Please check out their locations and menus here.

Topics in this Interview

00:05 Introduction
01:17 Welcoming Guests: Joe Summerour and Eric Williams
01:39 The Origin Story of Taziki’s
03:29 The Philosophy and Accolades of Taziki’s
04:28 Exploring the Menu of Taziki’s
10:44 The Impact of the Pandemic on Taziki’s
19:14 The Growth and Expansion of Taziki’s
21:16 Franchise Opportunities and Final Remarks

North Fulton Business Radio is hosted by John Ray and broadcast and produced from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta. You can find the full archive of shows by following this link. The show is available on all the major podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, and many others.

RenasantBank

Renasant Bank has humble roots, starting in 1904 as a $100,000 bank in a Lee County, Mississippi, bakery. Since then, Renasant has become one of the Southeast’s strongest financial institutions, with over $13 billion in assets and more than 190 banking, lending, wealth management, and financial services offices in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida. All of Renasant’s success stems from each of their banker’s commitment to investing in their communities as a way of better understanding the people they serve. At Renasant Bank, they understand you because they work and live alongside you every day.

Rachel Cory, Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe Alpharetta, and Jason Spencer and Jessica Tyre, EVEN Hotels Alpharetta

September 19, 2019 by John Ray

North Fulton Business Radio

Rachel Cory, Taziki's Mediterranean Cafe Alpharetta, and Jason Spencer and Jessica Tyre, EVEN Hotels Alpharetta

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**John Ray, Rachel Cory, Jessica Tyre, and Jason Spencer**

“North Fulton Business Radio,” Episode 165: Rachel Cory, Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe Alpharetta, and Jason Spencer and Jessica Tyre, EVEN Hotels Alpharetta

It’s a hospitality theme on this edition of “North Fulton Business Radio,” with Rachel Cory of Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe Alpharetta, and Jason Spencer and Jessica Tyre, EVEN Hotel Alpharetta. John Ray is your host on this edition of “North Fulton Business Radio,” broadcast from Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.

Rachel Cory, Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe Alpharetta

Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe is a rapidly expanding brand, named one of America’s fastest growing leaders by Inc. 5000 in the fresh-casual restaurant industry. The essence of Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe is defined by serving fresh ingredients and hand-cut meats daily. The Mediterranean influence in our name echoes across our chef-inspired cuisine but is approachable for any person, anywhere. We take pride in the made-from-scratch food that nourishes our customers daily and the artisanship that goes behind doing so without the use of fryers, freezers, or microwaves.

They thrive on the words included in our culture compass: connection, challenge, collaboration, details, and fresh. These ideals are executed through our mission to create an environment that combines extraordinary food with meaningful human connection.

Rachel Cory is the Marketing Manager for Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe Alpharetta. Follow that link for menus, catering information, and further contact information. You can also email Rachel directly.

Jason Spencer and Jessica Tyre, EVEN Hotel Alpharetta

**Jessica Tyre and Jason Spencer, EVEN Hotel Alpharetta**

Jason Spencer is the General Manager and Jessica Tyre is the Marketing Director of EVEN Hotels Alpharetta.

The EVEN® Hotels brand was launched in 2012 as the hotel industry’s first and only hotel brand created with wellness at its core. EVEN Hotels empowers guests to maintain their wellness routine while on the road by providing options to choose what that means to them. The brand has intentionally designed every aspect of the hotel experience, in every square foot across all properties, with an emphasis on four components: eating well, resting easy, keeping active and accomplishing more.

For more information about the EVEN Hotels brand, visit www.EVENHotels.com. Find them on Twitter www.twitter.com/EvenHotels, Facebook www.facebook.com/EvenHotels or Instagram www.instagram.com/evenhotels.

Additionally, you can contact Jason by email or Jessica by email.

“North Fulton Business Radio” is broadcast from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®, located inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta. Renasant Bank has humble roots, starting in 1904 as a $100,000 bank in a Lee County, Mississippi, bakery. Since then, Renasant has grown to become one of the Southeast’s strongest financial institutions with approximately $12.9 billion in assets and more than 190 banking, lending, wealth management and financial services offices in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. All of Renasant’s success stems from each of their banker’s commitment to investing in their communities as a way of better understanding the people they serve. At Renasant Bank, they understand you because they work and live alongside you every day.

DeKalb Business Today “Power Lunch” – December 4, 2015

December 6, 2015 by angishields

Dekalb Business Radio

DeKalb Business Today "Power Lunch" - December 4, 2015

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On the December edition of the DeKalb Business Today “Power Lunch”, we welcome a panel of guests from all different sides of the food industry. Blake Marshman talks about the challenges of managing and expanding a restaurant chain. Audra Luke discusses her work training the next generation of chefs. Steven Carse details the rise of his popsicle company from a start-up to a regional power. James Maggard takes us behind the scenes at DeKalb County’s newest upscale restaurant.

Blake Marshman/Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe

A long-awaited trip to Greece in 1997 should have been a relaxing getaway for Taziki’s founders Keith and Amy Richards. Instead, they became inspired. As the perfect excuse to continue their love affair with Greek food, they brought the idea for Taziki’s home. A vision materialized in their hearts and minds of a place somewhere between the tasty Mediterranean markets and their mothers’ kitchens, where simple ingredients and imaginative recipes would come together for a refreshing and original experience. Together, they created a menu loaded with creative twists on classic dishes, and launched a unique dining spot (with a unique name to match!) in 1998. The smallness of the 1000-square-foot restaurant made customers feel like family, which worked out nicely, as that’s how Keith and Amy thought of them, too. The company’s headquarter in Birmingham, AL and now has 50 locations in 14 states. We currently have 7 locations in Georgia.

Audra Luke/Le Cordon Bleu

Le Cordon Bleu Atlanta offers 10 industry-current kitchens, 4 demo classrooms and 6 regular classrooms where students learn side by side from professional chefs who take the time to know their students.

Steven Carse/King of Pops

If you’ve heard a story about our beginnings, it was more than likely a tale of one person overcoming a corporate layoff or of a lawyer eschewing the courtroom for the kitchen. While both of these things happened, neither is the whole story…

King of Pops was conceived overlooking the beach in Central America many years ago. Three adventurous brothers, born of a fruit-smoothie-loving mother, were taking a break from a day of exploration to talk about life and love, but mainly paletas- the Latin American ice pops they had fallen in love with during their travels.

That trip would, as trips tend to do, eventually come to an end, but these three gringos never stopped dreaming of paletas. It became an obsession to bring these delicious fresh-fruit creations back home with them to share with the good people of Atlanta.

Eventually, the youngest brother, Steven, was a victim of massive layoffs at his employer, AIG. There were no more excuses not to follow his dreams and King of Pops was born. No longer laboring inside a cramped cubicle, Steven was now laboring inside his own cramped kitchen. With the help of his brother Nick (the lawyer), their family, and a handful of friends, he began to experiment with a variety of techniques and recipes in an effort to recapture the essence of those first pops he had enjoyed years ago.

After countless hours of trial and error, King of Pops opened its first cart, much like the ones that had inspired the brothers years before. The original Poncey-Highland location was a quick success and soon carts could be seen popping up (pun intended) at local farmers markets and festivals.

Eventually, all-night pop making sessions weren’t enough, and it was time for Nick to come on board full time. He decided to leave his stable job as a lawyer to work on what he and his little brother had dreamt together.

Today our team is growing and we have our own kitchen (some of us even have business cards now!), and we have enlisted close friends to spread our vision to nearby cities. Our goal, however, remains the same: to provide an ecologically responsible, fresh, all-natural frozen treat in a fun neighborhood environment.

We still toil late into the night in the kitchen and you can often find Steven slinging pops at that original Poncey-Highland location or (if you get up early enough) you can see Nick picking through fresh fruit at the farmers market.

We love making pops. We hope you love eating them.

James Maggard/The Local No. 7 and M572

The Local No. 7 is the third of a group of restaurants and the first one of its kind. The first two restaurants are Matador Cantina Oakurst and Matador Cantina Glenwood Park. Having succeeded very well with Mexican food, we have decided to branch out in to some new ideas. Tucker is a wonderful growing area and we are proud to be a part of it.

The name Local No. 7 comes from the significance of the number 7 and history of Tucker. Tucker is 7 miles from Atlanta, Stone Mountain, Decatur, Chamblee, Doraville, and Lilburn; at one time had 7 churches; 7 high schools within 7 miles of Tucker, and Tucker was laid out in 1907. All of this made it obvious that we had to name our restaurant with number “7”. And what better drink to go with number 7 than whiskey, so we offer a wide variety of whiskey’s to go with our great burgers. The “Local” relates to the local railroad which thirty feet from our door.

We have set our menu, restaurant and bar to be very family friendly while also promoting a late night atmosphere with drinks. We welcome you to grow with us as we evolve in to what will hopefully be a new Tucker landmark.