The new business of an Olympic champion in beer and security

His Giorgos Lampiris

The name of Petros Galaktopoulos, for many, is directly associated with sports, Greco-Roman wrestling in which he was an Olympic champion and champion, but for fewer, perhaps, his varied activity in the business sector is associated. Particularly active in whatever position he held from time to time but even more active in business after his retirement from active sports, he recently made another business move as a shareholder in the Zeos brewery, which is based in Inachos Argolida, about 4 kilometers from the city of Argos.

Petros Galaktopoulos’ latest venture into business comes as no surprise if one remembers that he was the inventor of the once famous Fiesta Café, a company that was later acquired by Philip Morris and managed in Greece through Kraft Foods. In addition to the Zeos brewery, his recent venture also includes the guarding and security services company, Vanguard.

The acquisition of Zeos came after the death of the president and managing director and brewer of Zeos, David Wood during 2021. His partner is Giorgos Gamaris, known from the nightlife scene with shops such as Autokiniti or Akanthus.

Behind and from the production of the Folie croissant

Galaktopoulos, however, was the one who also brought Folie, one of the first industrial croissants in Greece, to the market in the late 1980s, to be subsequently acquired by Kraft and later by EVGA, which kept it in its portfolio until and today.

In the case of Fiesta Café, his partner was businessman Philippos Kontilieris (Artopolis), while when it was sold to Phillip Morris, the price at that time was 2.7 billion drachmas. Part of this money was then allocated for the lease and exploitation of the Stars of Glyfada as he created Estrellia Tourism SA, a business which he subsequently sold. He also participated as a shareholder in Dimitra SA. company behind the bakery stores, Artopolis and in this case with partner Filippos Kontilieris.

Zeos was founded in 1998 by Chris Papadimas, an expat entrepreneur from Canada who partnered with the late David Wood. Its turnover is around 1 million euros, yet being an absolutely profitable business entity as in the last year it published, that of 2019, its net profit after taxes was 141 thousand euros.

In the 1968 Olympic games in Mexico he won the bronze medal, while in 1972 in the Olympic games in Munich he won the silver medal, occupying the second place on the podium.

In addition to his business and sports activities, Galaktopoulos also occupied himself with institutional roles after the cessation of his sports activities, having served as president of the Wrestling Federation, president of the Hellenic Olympians, while he also served for a period as president of the “Spyros” Sports Center Louis” (OAKA). He has also served as a federal coach for the national Greco-Roman wrestling team. In 2019, he was nominated as a candidate for the extension of the “Independent Self-Government of Attica” of Yannis Sgouros for the Region of Attica.