After 36 years in Baltimore Greektown’s neighborhood,
Samos Restaurant is expanding to Canton with a fast-casual restaurant opening by October at the Shops at Canton Crossing.
Customers at the new store will order and pay at the counter and the 20-person staff will deliver soups, salads, tzatziki, hummus, and pita wraps to the tables at the 1,650-square-foot restaurant.
“We’ll have most of our favorites from the original locations, the ones that can be prepared quickly,” Samos Owner Michael Georgalas says.
He expects the developer will have the shell of the building ready to go in late spring, with interior renovations expected to take about four or five months after that. Georgalas is still planning the space and working on layout and doesn’t know yet how much he’ll spend on the new restaurant.
If the Canton location is successful, Georgalas says the family may expand further. He says there are no specific areas under consideration, but he points out that Samos has a customer base that extends from Washington, D.C., to Philadelphia.
Canton Crossing developers earlier this month unveiled the names of more than a dozen shops and restaurants that will open in the long-awaited development anchored by Harris Teeter and Target. Ulta, Old Navy, Michael’s and Five Below are among the new tenants in the East Baltimore shopping center. Samos is one of the few locally owned businesses that are part of the mix.
“This gives us an edge on being able to meet the needs of local customers, better than the national chains. We’ve been in the area so long,” says Georgalas. “There’s a lot of promise in the area, there’s a lot of people moving to the area. We wanted to serve that area.”
In 1977, Michael Georgalas’ father, Nicholas, opened the original Samos on the 600 Block of Oldham Street. Michael Georgalas currently manages the original Samos, and is the owner of the new location.
After so many years of only one Samos, what made the Georgalas family decide to expand now? Georgalas says a lot of it had to do with Neil Tucker, a principal with developer
Chesapeake Real Estate Group LLC.
“He’s been a customer of ours for many years. We’ve considered several locations. Some of them were a little too big for what we wanted to do. This one seemed like a perfect size and great location.”
Writer: Amy Landsman
Source: Michael Georgalas, Owner, Samos at Canton Crossing