The idea is simple. You take a national cuisine with strong recognition, gather products from small producers under a modern brand, and create spaces where the customer can buy, eat, and get to know this gastronomic culture better.
This is what Eataly did with Italian food. Its model combines restaurants and retail, company-owned flagship stores and franchises. Global sales, together with those of the franchises, now exceed 700 million euros.
ERGON, of the Douzis brothers, is attempting something similar with Greek food but with one difference. Its own project does not stop at the store and the restaurant. It adds hotels, bakery, pastry shop, deli, café and different food concepts, attempting to sell not only Greek products but a broader Greek and Mediterranean experience.
The company reports that it currently has 26 corporate and franchise locations in Greece, Britain, Cyprus and the Middle East and a portfolio of more than 600 products. Its list includes everything from Ergon Agora and the delis to Ergon Houses, Dubai and stores in London and Doha.
According to its financial statements for the period from March 27 to December 31, 2025, the group posted consolidated sales of 29.9 million euros, EBITDA of 4.3 million euros and net profits of 2.8 million euros. For the full calendar year 2025, management gives sales of 36.4 million euros after eliminations between the group’s companies and adjusted EBITDA of 5.5 million euros.
The distance from Eataly is enormous, yet at the same time it shows the potential for expansion. Eataly did not become an international success simply because it exported Italian pasta. It made the store itself a destination. The visitor can shop and eat in the same space.
This is also the thinking behind ERGON’s Agora. At Ergon House in Athens, for example, the food market and the restaurant coexist in the same space.
ERGON is now going one step further. In Dubai it created the first fully integrated Agora outside Greece. In London it is present in Marylebone and Covent Garden, while in Athens it is expanding the hospitality model with a boutique hotel on Ermou. The plan also includes new locations in the Middle East.
Despite the brand’s international image, ERGON’s base remains Greek. Of the 29.9 million euros in sales in the published period, 27.6 million came from Greece and 2.4 million from abroad.
For Eataly, North America represented 52% of its revenues in 2024, Europe 38%, and Asia, the Pacific and the Middle East the remaining 10%. Retail represented 46% and food service 45%.
As regards ERGON, it carried out a capital increase of 5.67 million euros, secured new bank financing of 6.5 million euros and welcomed Halcyon Equity Partners as a strategic minority investor.
Today ERGON is preparing its next step outside Greece, with the US now entering the map. The company has already established Ergon Foods USA Corp., which it controls 100%, although by the end of 2025 it had not yet had any activity. The American market is being considered for 2027, with New York among the possible first destinations.
The US is part of a broader international expansion. After Dubai and Doha, ERGON is expanding further in London and entering Bahrain.
At the same time, in Thessaloniki it is testing perhaps its most complex model, one that also carries special weight for the company itself, Thessaloniki and the FAIS group. The historic Modiano Market reopened in September under ERGON’s management, with 32 independent food and dining stores. For the company, Modiano is an extra difficult test.