JO FRAGKOU (LEFT) AND ELLIE KOUSOULI ARE TWO OF THE FOUR PEOPLE WHO CREATED ANTHOS BAKERY & CAFE. | PHOTO BY JONATHAN RUGGIERI/JERONIMO CREATIVE

Over the hiss of an espresso machine, Anastasios Fragkos explains the small plastic-wrapped barricade of bread loaves over the glass display case at Anthos Bakery & Cafe.

“This is tsoureki, Easter bread, probably the best you can find anywhere,” he says matter-of-factly. “We sell it all over the States.”

It was destined for shipment when things slowed down that day. And if things did not slow down, as often happens, someone would find time anyway to manage it on the online store.
In two short years, the Castle Shannon restaurant has become renowned for its Greek and traditional American baked goods, yet the venture is much more than bread and pastries.

Where to start? The extensive daytime menu features chicken souvlaki, Horiatiki salad, moussaka and pastitsio casseroles, along with Aegean Nicoise tuna salad and a mezé platter with three dips, Greek olives and pitas. All breads and pastries, such as the large loaves of pillowy challah, are made in house daily.

“When you mention Greek restaurants, people just think of gyros. There are a lot of things beyond the gyro and it is our pleasure to offer them,” Fragkos says.

Many things can describe a labor of love, and this one is both team effort and immigration success story. The foursome who created Anthos – Fragkos, his wife, Ellie Kousouli, Fragkos’ sister, Jo Fragkou and her husband, Devin Atchley, an American – had relatively little restaurant background coming into the venture.

(LEFT TO RIGHT) ANASTASIOS FRAGKOS, ELLIE KOUSOULI, JO FRAGKOU AND DEVIN ATCHLEY CREATED ANTHOS BAKERY & CAFE. | PHOTO BY JONATHAN RUGGIERI/JERONIMO CREATIVE

Atchley is a talented baker who worked at New York City’s Amy’s Bread before he and Fragkou went in with the others to create Anthos, which means “blossom” in Greek.

According to a 2013 National Restaurant Association survey, 96% of Pennsylvania’s restaurants employ 50 or fewer people. But unlike the association’s recent study showing 8 of 10 owners started in entry-level positions, the team at Anthos put together a plan that drew on their versatile backgrounds. The three Greeks grew up in Athens. Fragkos was in finance, Kousouli studied textile design and fashion forecasting; she and a partner had their own company in Greece, working as stylists.

“I designed loungewear and beachwear, in downtown Athens and the islands, like Mykonos,” she says.

Fragkou worked in the media. Among her television projects as a developer, she and her writing partner wrote the Greek version of “Ugly Betty.”

Related: How Five Immigrant Restaurateurs Have Brought Spice to Pittsburgh

At one time or another, they lived in London and New York, and visited the Pittsburgh area, where Fragkous and Fragkou have relatives.

“There could not be Anthos without the four of us,” Fragkou says. “Devin and I were dreaming about a bakery before, but it was just about a little bakery.

“It wasn’t like this. Devin is just a part of the equation. Everyone adds their little touch, their little spark and a little magic.”

The financial crisis in Greece in the 2010s was an impetus to strike out elsewhere.

“I worked in banks. I worked for private companies and at some point, liked the idea of having my own business,” says Fragkos, who also answers to Tassos, the common Greek shortening of Anastasios. “This worked well with Jo and Devin’s plan so we looked into it and said, ‘How do we do this?’”

ANTHOS BAKERY SELLS DEVOCIÓN COFFEE, IMPORTED OLIVE OILS, CANDY, CHEESES AND JAMS. | PHOTO BY JONATHAN RUGGIERI/JERONIMO CREATIVE

“This” became a place for baked goods and savory meals, serving Devoción coffee, and a marketplace for Greek imported olive oils, candy, cheeses and jams. The space on Willow Avenue is bright and bold, sunflower yellow and deep cobalt blue splashes of color against white.

They might not all have known the restaurant business, but they did know good food. “All of us have a passion with food,” Fragkos says. “Our parents were great cooks… in Greece we never went to [Greek] restaurants because [what] we had in our house was better.”

They learned some of the ropes through a kitchen incubator in Fulton Commons in Manchester, run by Brian and Irwin Mendelssohn, who are the force behind Row House Cinemas and Bierport and other developments.

Their original plan for a brick and mortar space was derailed by the pandemic, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Anthos would have opened in a Downtown space around Christmas 2020 but the leasing fell through.

Instead, the families – both of whom live in Mt. Lebanon – looked farther afield. The space in Castle Shannon had never been a restaurant; more recently it was a carpet store, a vape store and even a lacrosse outlet. The complete redesign was a fresh start.

They hired Corey Preston as a chef and opened Anthos in April 2022.

“It’s just a tough time for restaurants because of higher costs. At the same time, thank God we are lucky to have returning customers,” Kousouli says. In running Anthos, “we have found community.”

Keeping staff is a challenge for any business, post-pandemic, but Fragkou says they are blessed with a core lineup of workers that’s up to the challenge. As for the sisters-in-law, “you can see who is the passion,” Fragkos says as his wife hugs another customer in a warm greeting. His sister has the same cheerful welcome.

As mothers, they spend slightly less time at Anthos (which isn’t really saying much, given the often-10-hour days). Tassos and Ellie have twins, 17-year-old boys. Jo and Devin have a son, 13.

It is getting easier though, says his wife, including the online store, where experience has helped with the fulfillment of orders, especially during the holiday rushes.

“We are obliged to do our best for this business,” she continues “Not only do we owe it to the people who come here but we owe it to our kids. We changed their lives. “They had a mother they came home to [after school] and they had weekends. “We don’t have weekends anymore.”

The Greek community in Western Pennsylvania is not large. There were two migrations: the first in 1910-1912 (mostly sailors) and then in the 1940s, according to the American Hellenic Foundation of Western Pennsylvania.

Two long-time establishments have Greek origins: Nicholas Coffee and Tea, Downtown, and Sarris Candies, Canonsburg.

The 2000 U.S. census put the number of Americans of Greek ancestry at just over 1 million and according to local Greek church surveys (the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area), there are roughly 12,000 people in the Pittsburgh area who claim Greek ancestry. Most live outside of the city proper.

“We have so many Americans who come in and we have converted them into ‘almost’ Greek,” says Kousouli. “We teach them how to say ‘portokalopita’ (an orange cake) and they laugh.”

The startup experience, she adds “is like having a newborn… we want this baby to grow.

“Our dreams are bigger than this store.”

Anthos Bakery & Café is open Tuesday through Sunday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. The restaurant’s web site is anthosfoods.com. Maria Sciullo can be reached at mariasciullo2440@gmail.com.

This story is part of The New Americans, a project of Pittsburgh Tomorrow, which seeks to reverse population loss through revitalization. See more stories here. It is distributed through the Pittsburgh Media Partnership.