It was a growing business in Seattle that picked up for a future in Federal Way. Now Ellenos Yogurt has six times the space and an optimistic outlook for the years ahead.
Con Apostolopolous took his family recipe and developed a yogurt business that has had big success. Five years ago, just four people were making yogurt in a kitchen. Now Ellenos has 150 employees and they have yogurt cups up and down the west coast.
“It’s such a wonderful product, it’s a shame not for everyone to try it. It’s just a unique product, there’s nothing similar out there and people just love it,” Apostolopolous said.
But as they evaluated where they wanted to grow, it made more sense to get more space for a better price outside Seattle.
“We interviewed a couple cities before we actually picked one,” co-owner Bob Klein said. “We couldn’t find the space in Seattle and we knew we had to plan for the future and so we interviewed a few cities. And we picked Federal Way, we found this facility here.”
“What I found was really special about Federal Way was they held our hand all the way through the process. The Mayor was involved, the City Manager, everyone wanted to see us succeed in building this facility,” Klein added.
Since re-locating their growth has continued. Now Apostolopolous and Klein look back with gratitude and look forward with optimism.
“I’d just like to thank the people of the Pacific Northwest,” Apostolopolous said. “They’ve embraced us. And we’ve built this community here and I just want to be able to continue that.”
“It’s surreal, it’s like a dream,” Klein said. “You always dream of successes and things like that and to have something so special and be a part of something so special, with all the people that make us feel like we’re one big family is unbelievable.”