Below, a timeline explaining the series of events which resulted in the most successful food and beverage company the country has seen.
1971: Uncle George brings Panayiotis (the oldest Halamandaris brother) from Greece to South Africa. 1972: Panayiotis buys the Bellevue store from Uncle George and operates the store independently under his control. 1974: Theofanis (the second oldest Halamandaris brother) emigrates from Greece to South Africa. Theofanis then works at supermarkets for the first year. 1975: Panayiotis leaves South Africa and returns back to Greece. Theofanis, buys and takes over Bellevue from Panayiotis. 1976: George “Junior” Halamandres (Uncle George’s oldest son) passes away. This causes severe emotional trauma to Uncle George and he starts to loose interest in the food industry. 1976-1980: Theofanis continues to innovate and develop his store, improving every aspect from quality of the food to service to operations. It is during this period where the foundations of the store are engineered with passion and precision. Future stores were born from the blueprint of this “mother” store. 1980: Panayiotis from Greece and Periklis from Australia (the third oldest Halamandaris brother) arrive in South Africa for Theofanis’ wedding. Together, they decide to expand the business and Panayiotis and Periklis are to return to South Africa in the near future. 1981: Periklis emigrates to South Africa and the two brothers open the second store in Yeoville. 1983: Panayiotis returns to South Africa and so does his wisdom and leadership that proves to be invaluable. The three brothers open the third store in Sandton City shopping mall. A serious store with serious power which boosts their business to the next level. 1984: Uncle George sees the success of the three brothers and their three stores. He proposes that the time has come for the two families to join: Panayiotis, Theofanis and Periklis with their three stores and John Halamandres (Uncle George’s youngest son) with the sauce factory, which was his only remaining business at that time. The agreement is made and the 2 families merge into a single “four core member unit”, each member contributing their own strengths: Panayiotis finances, Theofanis operations, Periklis franchising and John marketing. The unit agrees on certain principles from the start and are to be always adhered to: ethical business conduct, continues innovation, hard work, every member will have their independent and specific duties, no member will criticize or comment on another member, every member will always do their best, no wives will be included in the business and 100% trust between the members. 1986: Babis (the youngest Halamandaris brother) emigrates to South Africa to join and help in the businesses the core members have built.