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George Rodarakis: From hired hand to pizza king

If anyone knows the recipe for a northern success story, it’s George Rodarakis. Throughout nearly four decades, he has become a top northern Manitoba pizza magnate, founding successful outlets in Thompson, Snow Lake, Flin Flon and Creighton.
With the help of daughter Kaiti Keramydas, George Rodarakis has cooked up a reputation as northern M
With the help of daughter Kaiti Keramydas, George Rodarakis has cooked up a reputation as northern Manitoba’s pizza king. Originally from Greece, he founded successful businesses in four northern communities.

If anyone knows the recipe for a northern success story, it’s George Rodarakis.

Throughout nearly four decades, he has become a top northern Manitoba pizza magnate, founding successful outlets in Thompson, Snow Lake, Flin Flon and Creighton.

These days, Rodarakis works as a delivery driver and assistant with Creighton’s Pizza, a business he founded almost 20 years ago.

His pizza odyssey began in Thompson. He moved to the northern city from his native Crete, Greece, in 1969, working as a mason for the Inco mining company before opening his own body shop.

“Back home, we were coming back after the Second World War,” Rodarakis recalls. “No business, no jobs. I wanted to come to this country to work.”

“He had no education in mechanics or anything,” says Kaiti Keramydas, Rodarakis’ daughter. “His friend knew and he just learned along the way.”

Rodarakis eventually decided to get into the restaurant business. He found prime real estate in Snow Lake – right on Main Street, next to the United Steelworkers union hall.

Back in Thompson, Rodarakis began hiring staff for the new restaurant.

“There was one Italian guy and another guy from Chile,” Rodarakis says.

The “guy from Chile” proved to be a key piece of the puzzle for Rodarakis. Rico Rodriguez helped Rodarakis establish the new business, Verona Pizza.

Ironically, when Rodarakis first started the pizza shop, his plans were missing a key ingredient – how to actually make pizza.

“Rico was his right-hand man,” says Keramydas. “My dad didn’t know how to make pizza at first. Rico knew how to flip the dough and make the pizza himself. He would literally toss the dough in the air and everything.”

Rico was hired at the last minute, just before Rodarakis headed to Snow Lake to prepare the shop for opening.

“Somebody told me, ‘This Rico, he’s a good pizza man. You’ll want to hire him,’” says Rodarakis. “So I phoned him, it was 12 o’clock and I was set to leave for Snow Lake at 1 o’clock. ‘Rico, I’m opening up a pizza place in Snow Lake. Do you want to go and give me a hand?’ He said, ‘Sure.’ I said, ‘Okay, we’re going in a half hour.’ That was when we started to go to Snow Lake.”

In 1986, the original Verona Pizza opened a day ahead of schedule and was an immediate hit in Snow Lake.

“We were supposed to open Friday. We started making dough and preparing everything and we were ready on Thursday,” says Rodarakis. “So we decided to open up Thursday.

“When we opened right at 4 o’clock, the phone rang. Somebody wanted to order a pizza. It was surprising. The first night, we sold 60 pizzas – no advertising. Rico was flipping the dough to the ceiling, women were bringing their kids to show them how to make pizza.”

With business booming in Snow Lake, a friend and fellow business owner encouraged Rodarakis to branch out to another northern Manitoba community: Flin Flon.

Rodarakis was confused.

“He said, ‘Why don’t you come to Flin Flon?’ I said, ‘Flin Flon? What’s in Flin Flon?’ I didn’t know,” he recalls.

After Rodarakis headed to Flin Flon and found a suitable location, he sold his businesses in Snow Lake and Thompson and opened another pizza place, sharing the name of his previous spot in Snow Lake.

The first incarnation of Flin Flon’s Verona Pizza opened on North Avenue in late 1987. A few years later, Verona moved to Hapnot Street and became the Verona Pizza and Specialty House.

In the following years, the business – commonly called Verona’s – became one of Flin Flon’s busiest restaurants. Diners enjoyed not only pizza, but also a selection of Greek and Canadian favourites.

In 1994, Rodarakis sold Verona’s and moved back to Greece with his family. Despite the distance, the family stayed close to the North, keeping in touch with friends back in Canada.

When a group of former Verona’s employees wanted to open up a pizza shop of their own, they called the Rodarakis’ in Greece for advice. Not long after the call, Doe Doe’s Pizza opened.

After five years, the family returned to northern Manitoba, opening a pizza place in Thompson and later buying the then-vacant Pepperpot restaurant in Creighton.

After renovating the Pepperpot and installing new ovens, Rodarakis reopened
it as Creighton’s Pizza in December 1999.

“I think we made a good business. Every day, we were moving more [food],” said Rodarakis.

While Rodarakis is renowned for his tasty pizzas, the most important ingredient in his entrepreneurial success has not been cheese or pepperoni, but family involvement.

In 2003, when it was time for Rodarakis to transfer ownership of Creighton’s Pizza, he gave the business to his daughter and son-in-law, Kaiti and Teli Keramydas.

The business is still run by the family, using the same recipe Rodarakis received decades ago.

On some summer days, the newest generation of the family – the Keramydas’ two young daughters – can be found running happily around the restaurant.

His name may not be on the deed these days and he isn’t putting every pie in the oven, but Rodarakis is far from jetting off into the sunset. Thankful for his success but unwilling to slow down, he still comes into the shop every day around 4 o’clock to deliver pizzas and do odd jobs.

While he just turned 73, Rodarakis usually doesn’t end his day until well past midnight, helping feed the community that has given him and his family so much.

“I check the phones, I can help in the back with pizza, check the ovens, all that,” he says. “I’m going to try to keep going. That’s all I can tell you.”

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