HOSPITALITY ABOVE ALL OTHERS

Engaging and electric, Peter Eliopoulos has become one of Canada’s most respected and dominant players in the hospitality industry

The chic new urban oasis that is Petros 82 Restaurant within Hotel X Toronto on Toronto’s lakefront is quickly gaining a reputation as one of the city’s best new food and venue experiences since its opening this past September. Its memorable location overlooking Lake Ontario and Toronto’s skyline offers a new perspective of the city, and that is perhaps not surprising given this view is gifted to us by owner Peter Eliopoulos of byPeterandPauls.com, one of Canada’s most respected and dominant purveyors of hospitality.

Eliopoulos is one of those larger-than-life personalities who seems to be at the centre of every room when he’s in it. And in his lifetime in hospitality, he’s been in quite a few rooms, starting with a humble house party he catered back in the mid-1980s. Since then, Eliopoulos and his life and business partner, Anna, have effectively and successfully translated their passion for celebrating life events into a number of award-winning and highly respected businesses, even being awarded Best Caterer in Canada.

With his signature grey ponytail, charismatic smile and champagne-like effervescence, Eliopoulos is a storyteller extraordinaire who loves to thread the needle through conversations with disarming and bold confidence. “When we first came to Canada, I worked at my uncle’s takeout hamburger restaurant. After that, I mopped floors and cleaned dishes at my family’s restaurant,” he says. “I gave my parents the money, and eventually my mother opened up a bank account for me and put extra money in it, too.”