DeRusha Eats: The New Dino's Looks To Conquer
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Juy-roh. Hi-roh.
The Adamidis family has heard the word "gyro" pronounced in so many incorrect ways since they first started selling the part beef, part lamb Greek delicacy in the early 1980s.
"I'd be very wealthy if someone had to pay every time they said it the wrong way," laughed Jason Adamidis, the second-generation CEO of Dino's.
Dino's Gyros started with Dino Adamidis and his stand at small festivals and fairs. Minnesotans were lining up to eat this meat on a pita that they couldn't pronounce.
"The comment my dad made to my mother: 'I think we found the American dream,'" Adamidis said.
Success at festivals led to a spot at the Minnesota State Fair and ultimately six Greek restaurants around the Twin Cities, and several locations inside corporate campus lunch facilities.
"My mother and father believed in a dream, the American dream to roll up their sleeves, work hard, and create something," Adamidis said.
But when the founder turned over the family business to his son, the son decided that Dino's needed to change in order to grow.
"Fast-casual is the future," Adamidis said. "Mediterranean is one of the biggest up-and-coming segments in the future of the food business."
The new concept doesn't have that funny gyro word in it, instead it's called Dino's Fresh Mediterranean.
"People want to have choices," Adamidis said.
The big menu is gone. Instead you pick a salad, a bowl, pita sandwich, or a plate. Then you add protein: chicken shawarma, falafel, diced chicken breast, or gyro.
Then, just like at Chipotle or Subway, the customer watches and selects any number of additional vegetables, salads, sauces and dressings, including cucumber sauce, red cabbage, chickpeas, or freshly- made tabouli.
"If you want a traditional gyro, you can make that, too," Adamidis said. "But this gives people a way to make something different every day."
Being a second-generation business leader comes with opportunities and challenges, according to Adamidis.
"For a second generation, you gotta understand the first generation built it, it's their baby," he said.
His parents are still on the board, and "they're always in our stores, they always have something to say," he laughed.
The food still tastes great. But the concept taps into customization, speed, and healthy eating.
Adamidis said his hope is that Dino's will become a great national brand of fresh Mediterranean food within five years.
"I see us being a national-based concept," Adamidis said. "I see us saturating the Twin Cities market. I believe whole-heartedly we can be one of the largest Mediterranean concepts in North America."
The Dino's Fresh Med concept was first tested at a new story on the University of Minnesota campus. The existing legacy Dino's restaurants in Falcon Heights, Coon Rapids, Edina, Plymouth and Woodbury are all being converted to the concept.
