The ethos, the hard work, the insight that governs him in the business arena are just some of the components of his success story Spyros Theodoropouloswhich started when he was just 10 years old.

The follow-up is exciting and includes a “wrong” order of matches, which turned out to be a success, the acquisition of the then small shrimp factory Chipita (which was sold in 2021 for $2 billion), the innovative idea of ​​​​producing a standard croissant, the acquisition of the meat industry NIKAS, the entry into MEVGAL but also the acquisition of the historic ION.

Today, with a rich number of well-known companies in his portfolio (such as ION, Nikas, Wonderplant, the ready meals company AMBROSIA, and the company HELLENIC JUICES), but also visions for new important acquisitions, Spyros Theodoropoulos, through Bespoke SGA Holdings, is preparing the ground for a new and powerful food group with an initial revenue of around 400 million euros.

The success story

The beginning

Spyros Theodoropoulos was born in Athens in 1958. From a very young age he showed his calling in business. His father owned the dairy company Recor AE and young Spyros, 10 years old at the time, spent all his free time at the company as he preferred to learn first hand.

This experience was valuable, as at the age of 16, he lost his father and lived the agony of his family’s livelihood. Last year at school, he starts working early in the morning in the family business, and late at night he studies to enter the university.

In 1976, he finished third in the ASOEE. He attends his school’s classes incessantly, without missing a single day from the company run by his uncles. His dreams, however, reached much further.

In 1981 he resigns and takes on the role of director of the Aligel confectionery and ice cream importing company. In 1986, a landmark year in his career, together with Angelos Davos, they set up the hazelnut praline production company Interia. And he starts traveling abroad, with eyes and spirit open to creating his own success story.

The matches that became rapturous

In the same year, he took advantage of the abolition of the state monopoly on matches and entered the market, importing large quantities from Italy. At the customs he discovered that there had been a mistake in the order, they had sent matches that were innovative for the time, that lit on any smooth surface. He decides at the last minute to clear them with whatever money he had, and finally, luckily for him… the matches become snatched. Containers kept coming and coming, profits soared.

“Buy her and you’ll remember me”

This is how he managed to raise his first major capital and is looking for his next step. The idea of ​​buying 50% of a small shrimp factory called Chipita in Moschato seemed good but also…expensive on the first date. The owner had then whispered to him as he was leaving “buy her and you will remember me”… This phrase was running through his mind in the following days. He decided to take the risk, and came back to say the big yes. Three years later, in 1989, he buys out his partner’s share and the entire company comes under his control.

In the hands of Spyros Theodoropoulos, Chipita, from a small craft making shrimps, gradually becomes the multinational giant we all know.

He wanted to stand out, to do something different. And he did. The first packaged croissant.

From prawns to croissants

“I had a small workshop that made hazelnut praline and there was a croissant shop in Patision, next to Anotati Emporiki, where I was a student. I went one day to see what the person who buys so much praline is doing.

So he would take croissants, put the praline inside, and sell them.

I took one, I ate it, I liked it, and I say: If we can someday industrialize this, they might see us in something other than shrimp and take us a little more seriously.”

He made 19 appointments with all the big businessmen of the time to find the funds. All negative. Even he himself was thinking of abandoning the idea, thinking that in order to collect so much, no, everyone else knew something and not himself…

The 20th date in 1989 was also his lucky one. The Eurohellenic fund, with the participation of the powerful Saudi Olayan family, the Italian businessman De Benedetti, Alpha Finance and TITAN, agreed to invest in the innovative concept of the production of standard croissants and, acquiring 50% of Chipita through a share capital increase, gave to Theodoropoulos the opportunity he was looking for to open up to the world market.

Since then, Spyros Theodoropoulos developed a close relationship with the Olayan family, who provided him with undivided support in all his subsequent business steps with Chipita.

With Spyros Theodoropoulos at the helm, Chipita’s run continued strongly.

In 1994, it entered the Stock Exchange, a fact that significantly contributed to growing even more, within and above all abroad. At the same time, its product range was strengthened and strong alliances were created that brought new investments, in order to ensure the penetration of the products in foreign markets.

Soon, Chipita became a Greek multinational with a leading share in exports and high-profile partnerships (e.g. Pepsico).

In the years that followed, the company acquired factories in 11 countries: Bulgaria, Turkey, Romania, Poland, Russia, Slovakia and made strategic alliances in Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Malaysia, India and Egypt. It had a presence of its products in 45 countries and in 28 of them with advertising.

It is worth noting that in 2016 and for a 5-year period, Chipita with 7 DAYS went ahead in cooperation with Euroleague Basketall. It was the first time that a Greek company sponsored such an important international event in the field of Sports!

7 DAYS Croissants and Mini Croissants, Molto, Bake Rolls are just some of the products that have been recognized internationally. The company came to employ 5,500 workers, and together with the joint ventures 13,000 workers. While its turnover jumped to 800 million euros.

In 2006, Chipita merged with DELTA, Goody’s and Barba Stathis, creating the Vivartia group, whose reins were taken over from September 2006 to October 2010 by Spyros Theodoropoulos.

In 2007, Andreas Vgenopoulos’ MIG acquires Vivartia, with Spyros Theodoropoulos remaining at the helm until October 2010, when together with the Olayan Group, as well as other businessmen, his staunch allies, he reacquires Chipita in a deal over 730 million euros.

In the following years, Chipita is constantly rising, increasing both turnovers and its dynamics at an international level. This fact had as a natural consequence many proposals for its acquisition by the competition.

Sold for $2 billion

The most notable proposal was made by the Mondelez giant. Theodoropoulos and Olayans’ response to its first offer (of $1.5 billion) was negative. But in 2021, when the offer reached 2 billion. dollars, the proposal was accepted.

Along with Chipita’s growth, it could not resist other market challenges.

In 2008, he turned to the primary sector using modern techniques, founding Wonderplant together with his business partners Michalis Arabatzis, Themis Makris and Stavros Nendos. In 2011, the operation of the model hydroponic tomato cultivation unit with glass-enclosed greenhouses began in Petrousa, Drama. Soon, and thanks to the consistent large-scale investments made in the company, Wonderplant established itself as a company showing steady profits, producing 15,000 tons of tomatoes of three different varieties annually, and owning 220 acres of glass greenhouses, utility rooms and 15,000 m2 packing houses. ., as well as a High Efficiency Combined Heat and Power (CHP) station.

Its turnover has reached 50 million, and it employs 250 workers.

The company’s plans include its immediate expansion. In 2017, he acquired the historical NIKAS sausage factory with the aim of financial consolidation and through a series of strategic moves, managed to take it out of the margins and bring it back to the business forefront.

In the summer of 2021, he also invested in the dairy industry, acquiring 21.5% of MEVGAL! Despite the huge financial benefit from the agreement with Mondelez, Spyros Theodoropoulos did not retire from active action. Instead, he continued his business activity with the same zeal.

The lights at Bespoke

In March 2022, he introduces Bespoke SGA Holdings, flanked once again by a group of his trusted partners and friends!

Two things played a role in their positive response to Theodoropoulos’ proposal: the absolutely convincing strategy for future growth and expansion worldwide that he presented to them, but also the fact that with him the company would remain in Greek hands.

Collaboration is very important to him, as he considers entrepreneurship a team sport and prefers to always prioritize “we” over “I”. After all, he hasn’t done any business on his own. On the contrary, he always had partners.

Partners to whom he showed unlimited respect, as he has stated: “RESPECT is the key word in business. Respect for all Stakeholders of a business”. Also, he did not deny his participation in the public through his activity on the Boards of Directors of collective bodies.

He is the vice-president of SEV and a member of the Board of Directors for the last 25 years, with responsibility for labor for the last 10, succeeding the historical executive of the Association, Nikos Analytis.

In the past he has served as President of the Union of Listed Companies, Vice President of HEXA, member of the Board of Directors of National Bank and member of the Board of Directors of PPC.

For Spyros Theodoropoulos, business is not a job, but a way of life. That is precisely why he does not intend to stop, as always, wherever he goes, he will look ahead, he will know that there is more