Nobody takes a break even when they do

A word with Ioannis Stamatogiannis, architect and owner of the Greek restaurant ‘Tortuga’, is primarily a life lesson and then a lesson in business. It is true that some are better at doing certain things than others, but when it comes to entrepreneurship, nationality does not matter, he claims, but flair. And flair means intuition, research, pragmatism and originality: to sell cups when others buy straws.

The architecture of passion

He has been an architect for over 20 years, he came to Romania to study and he decided to stay. He smiles when he remembers the first Greek clubs founded after the revolution and the holidays in Greece, working as a bartender. In 2008 he decided to exploit his passion for cooking and flavors by opening the restaurant Tortuga. In 2010, after two years and 200,000 euro invested, the doors were opened for the first customer. In the middle of a financial crisis, real estate spades, but people continue to eat.

‘I’m a man bound to tradition, furthermore,  I have never seen myself as an entrepreneur, but as an architect.’ Thinking about what the beggining of this project meant and the difficulties impinging on young entrepreneurs, he believes that bureaucracy exists, but it does not close doors. We go back to the flair of which we were speaking before and which gives you the answers on how the question has to be asked, when and to what extent you have to smile and how important it is to be a receptive person.

Luxury: you don’t need, it but you want it

Ioannis speaks of luxury as being a higher level than the one you find yourself at. The only binding is that one must know at what level they are: ‘It’s easy to get out of a Mercedes and  try to create a different impression when you are actually thinking about the debts that you have accumulated.’ Luxury is a relative term, every one of us gives it a different value depending on the environment in which they live and the expectations they have. It may be that in certain circumstances, you can afford the luxury, but you realize that it does not represent you. However, every man aspires to something better, something he does not have, something that does not exist, and the luxury market is not necessarily supported by people who can afford it, but by passionates, by those who save money  and make sacrifices out of respect for quality, history and what the product represents. They are real luxury connoisseurs and consumers.

A plan about yourself and not about your business

For those who are just starting out, regardless of the domain, the Tortuga restaurant owner insists on making and following a plan. Not a business plan, but one for the future, a vision of themselves, on which they can create the backbone of the project. Self-esteem brings respect from others  and it is another essential element, next to the responsability you have for your actions and for those around you.

‘People always complain: X sits at the office all day doing nothing and gets paid. But people do not think about how hard X worked before sitting in the office, that creating a system is a lot more difficult than physical labor.’ And speaking of work, Ioannis Stamatogiannis know that success means work and luck. Together.