For more than 50 years, visitors to a handful of restaurants in Greeley were greeted by the beaming smile of owner George Gatsiopoulos at the doors of The Ranch, the Paragon and The Country Inn.
Through sales, and new businesses, and ups and downs, the almost 72-year-old started small with The Ranch, sold it and grew to owning two popular longtime restaurants in town, The Country Inn and Paragon Family Restaurant. But today, he’s down to one — not that anyone would notice much of a difference.
George Gatsiopoulos always has a smile on his face for everyone he sees. Now that he has sold the Country Inn, he will spend more time helping his wife run The Paragon Family Restaurant at 2725 W. 10th St. (Sharon Dunn/BizWest)Gatsiopoulos still greets his longtime customers of The Country Inn daily — with one glaring, yet not quite-so-shocking difference. Last month, Gatsiopoulos sold the restaurant at 1415 8th Ave. to Peter Waldron, 27, a budding entrepreneur who sold an irrigation business he built up in Denver to chase his dream of owning his own diner.
“I’m gonna miss the people, too, but not as much,” Gatsiopoulos said, “I mean I’m still gonna go down there and give them heck if they need it. But, you know, the young man that bought it, he’s very good in the restaurant business, and he loves the restaurant business, and I think he’ll do well. It was just time for me.
“The Country Inn was a memory made every day,” he said. “It was just amazing. You could’ve walked into the Country Inn and found millionaires, billionaires and homeless almost sitting side-by-side with each other, and it was just comfortable.”
Gatsiopolous bought the restaurant in 1983 after Sambo’s went out of business. At the time, he owned The Ranch, at 8th Avenue and 5th Street, and someone suggested that he make an offer on the shuttered restaurant a few blocks to the south.
He did, and a year and a half later, he was holding the keys to the kingdom. There, he began building a legacy, one that remains as customers who dined there with their grandparents now dine there with their grandchildren. Much of his staff have remained with him for decades.
It was for them that he opted to fight back after the restaurant burned down in 2016 in an arson event in which a 16-year-old and his girlfriend broke in, stole equipment and threw a lit match behind them.
It took him three years to navigate the complications of his 30-year-old insurance policy, which ended up not quite being enough to cover the restaurant’s losses.
“But thank God with banks and things and people that I was able to reopen,” he said. “I even had an offer with a cashier’s check to sell it if I wanted to right after the fire. Then I turned that down. I rebuilt the Country Inn after the fire because these young people came to work for me when they were 14, and now their kids are almost working for me, you know.”
Gatsiopoulos tried a little family succession planning, bringing his son on board, but after two years, his son decided that it wasn’t his cup of tea. Gatsiopoulos put the restaurant up for sale, and he soon got a bite.
Waldron, originally from New Jersey, who had a business in Denver, also had a girlfriend who grew up eating at the restaurant. It became a match made in, well, at least downtown Greeley.
Peter Waldron, 27, formerly of Denver, recently purchased The Country Inn from George Gatsiopoulos, who has owned the restaurant since 1983. (Sharon Dunn/BizWest)“I’ve always wanted to own a diner,” Waldron said. “I never thought it would happen so soon, but when I saw the opportunity, you know, I just had to jump on it.”
Of course, it helps that Gatsiopoulous — either a creature of habit or who simply wants to ensure the restaurant’s success — remains on-site. He comes to the restaurant every morning for a couple of hours before moving to the Paragon, which is managed by his wife.
“George is still around,” Waldron said. “He’s still around giving me guidance and introducing me to people. People are a bit surprised (about the sale), but they also get it because he’s been here for so long, and he’s a super busy guy.”
And, George has the answers — to about a 1,000 questions a day, Waldron said.
Then there’s the staff. It’s almost as if Country Inn is a well-oiled machine that can run on its own.
“The staff is incredible and they really make my life easy, and as you’re aware in restaurants, employee turnover is just the killer of the business,” Waldron said. “But here, the average employee has been there for 10-plus years, so they know every single thing that there is to know about the restaurant. I’m able to just lean heavily on them, which really makes my life a lot easier.”
Waldron knows Gatsiopoulos has his back — even when he stops coming in daily to help out.
“I’m sure that every month that goes by, he’ll spend a little bit less time here, but he’s always gonna be around, in terms of helping me in the future,” Waldron said. “I know that he’s always gonna be if he’s not here physically, then he’s just a phone call away.”
Waldron said he has no plans of changing anything at the restaurant. For the time being, he just wanted to experience every aspect of the business from the grill to bussing tables on the weekend — which he does.
“I’m definitely trying to be as involved as possible,” he said. “I also try to stay out of the way of everyone. Like I said, everyone knows what they’re doing here.”
George Gatsiopoulos greets customers at The Country Inn on Friday. He sold the restaurant to Peter Waldron a month ago, but he remains on-site to advise and help with the transition, a lot of which is explaining to long-time customers his next moves. (Sharon Dunn/BizWest)Even at almost 72, Gatsiopoulos is just not completely ready to slow down.
“Eventually, it all comes to an end. Even the train has to stop,” he said. “But, you know, I’ve never stopped working. Slowing down? Well, it doesn’t suit me, but it did relieve a lot of pressure. It gives me an opportunity to do something different and maybe take my mind off of some things. … I never was in it for the money as much as I was in just the pleasure of seeing people in the restaurants.
“It’s a love affair,” he said. “If you don’t love people, you’re not in the right business.”
This article was first published by BizWest, an independent news organization, and is published under a license agreement. © 2025 BizWest Media LLC. You can view the original here: Greeley’s iconic Country Inn restaurant changes hands, but with the same smiling faces
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Greeley’s iconic Country Inn restaurant changes hands, but with the same smiling faces )
Also on site :