Original By Greeks is a Food Truck Must

My first experience with Original By Greeks’ food truck was a welcoming wave and a hello. Owners and founders Niko Diamantopoulos and Vaja Telo were setting up their truck for the lunch rush in Civic Center Park a few weeks ago. The sun was shinning, and people were happy to be outside.

“Last week, we sold 2,000 gyro sandwiches. That’s 1,000 pounds of gyro meat, and only one of our trucks. The other truck sold about 500 pounds of meat,” says Niko Diamantopoulos. Original By Greeks started their food truck business at the end of summer, 2017. Since then, they have expanded from one to two trucks and have hired three full-time employees.

Telo and Diamantopoulos are both from Greece. They packed up their bartending and barista backgrounds and headed for the States. “We didn’t have any expectations going into this,” says Vaja Telo. The first two years starting the business were very tough, but Telo and Diamantopoulos kept quality their number-one focus.

“We did what we knew best, which was to put our heads down and keep working,” say the co-owners.

“Our first winter was very difficult, though the summer after that was better than we could have imagined. “We made enough to have made it,” says Telo. “We were excited for the next season to come … then our engine blew. It was $15,000 to fix, and everything we made that summer.”

“When you start a food truck, you imagine opening up the window and just start selling orders,” says Diamantopoulos. Telo and Diamantopoulos work 80- to 90-hour work weeks normally, and were at the Colorado Gem and Mineral show.

“With COVID-19 affecting all of us, if a food business breaks even this year, they should be happy,” says Diamantopoulos. Inside the truck is all polished stainless steel. There is just enough room for about five people in tight proximity.

“The food truck business is hard to start. But, if you want to do it, and love the work, the taste is very sweet,” says Telo. “Opening your own business and looking back at what you have done, it is very sweet.”

A traditional pork gyro and a side of dolmas were all I needed to become infatuated with their flavor. Each gyro is constructed beautifully with care in every layer. Wrapped in tin foil, bursting with juicy gyro meat, crispy french fires, feta cheese, and enough tang from the red onions and tzatziki sauce, this was not a flavor domination of meat but a balanced bite with complementary spice.