By Mark Ambrogi
To say Giordano’s CEO Yorgo Koutsogiorgas is encouraged by the reception the Chicago-area deep-dish pizza chain is receiving with its first Indianapolis restaurant is an understatement.
“We’re more than encouraged,” he said. “We’re shocked in a positive way with the overwhelming response of the residents of Indianapolis and the greater area. There are people camping out. We tell them we are not going anywhere. We’ve made a substantial investment in the area. Come back in a couple of weeks and they’re ‘no, we want to have it now.’ It’s three- and four-hour waits and they don’t mind. On the one hand it’s very humbling and surprisingly nice, on the other hand we are disappointed we can’t take care of everyone. There are so many thousands of people that want to experience our restaurant and unfortunately we only have (110 seats), not enough to take care of all the demand. But it’s a good problem.”
Giordano’s opened at 4110 E. 82nd St., in the Rivers Edge shopping center earlier this month.
“We wish we had more seats or three restaurants,” Koutsogiorgas said.
To that end, Koutsogiorgas said he is actively seeking spots to locate in both Carmel and downtown Indianapolis.
“We believe strongly that there is a certain shared culture between people in Illinois and people in Indiana,” he said. “We believe that shared culture is in the decision-making of where to go, what locations and cities. That’s why it was so easy to pick Indianapolis as our first market to grow outside our home market. We never thought Indianapolis would be one restaurant. We believed we could have a few there.”
Koutsogiorgas said there are a few spots they are seriously considering now.
“We have not gotten to the point where we have signed a lease,” Koutsogiorgas said. “That could happen tomorrow or three months from now.”
Koutsogiorgas said if a location is secured in the next 60 days, it could open in the fourth quarter of 2015 or first quarter of 2016.
“That is dependent on how quickly we close on the lease,” he said. “It takes six to nine months after we sign the lease to build the restaurant.”
The Indianapolis restaurant is the first one opened by Giordano’s corporate group outside the Chicago area. There are three franchise restaurants in Orlando, Fla., Koutsogiorgas said. There will be a company-owned Giordano’s opening in Minneapolis in early May.
