Arsenis Delicatessen

His story Arseni Louki I have recorded it since 2016, when greekgastronmyguide.gr first operated and I had expressed my admiration for its action from the beginning. Specific documents:

"THE Arsenis Loukis he was born in 1978 and in the first decade of 2000, at a time when all his Parian peers were in the tourism profession, he decided to dedicate himself to the primary sector. Thus, in 2004, he plants in his family estate of 20 acres, in Marathi, an exemplary vineyard with the varieties Assyrtiko, Monemvasia, Savvatiano and Mandilaria. In fact, he chooses the "linear" cultivation of planting in an area where traditionally "makes" vines dominated.

His next step was to plant 1700 pomegranates, which today produce tens of tons and are available in the markets of Paros, Syros and Athens.

Eating opens the appetite, so then Arsenis plants eight hundred figs, one thousand citrus roots, four hundred capers, increases the production in vineyards that reaches 100 acres and creates a orchard with fruits.

Finally, within ten years, it manages 600 acres of land whose fruits - most of which are products of organic crops - are distributed mainly in Paros, while at the same time its crops beautify the landscape of the island, which has been so burdened by superstructure.

In 2015, in collaboration with his sister Theodora, take the next step and build in Naoussa, an extremely tasteful delicatessen store, where together with the products of their production, they have food items selected one and one of the best producers in Greece. In 2018, Arsenis wholesale is created, the distribution and logistics center just outside Naoussa and in 2020 a large store Arsenis delicatessen in Parikia ".

Five years have passed since then and I met Arsenis often in the estates and in the wholesale store that was close to my house in Lefkes. The other day (2021) I went shopping from Arsenis delicatessen and I realized that I had done an injustice and that I had to redress it.

The reason was that while I was choosing my vegetables, I saw something French people were talking to Theodora and they told her that as soon as they set foot on the island they went through the store, not only to do their supplies, but to make an honest and cordial meeting with the people of the store and Theodora Louki. Because this is the climate that prevails in Arsenis delicatessen, a atmosphere of an old grocery store, hospitable, humane with people who not only know the products they choose well and have the opportunity to talk about them and support them, but also know and care about their customers.

That's him a world with the scent of a woman, the world of Theodora. It was morning and we had a conversation with Theodora, to find out how she created her world, which we had ignored for so long:

«I am 6 years younger than Arsenis, but since I was little I was close to him. Either when he worked as a hotelier, or when he built his own "shack" with its production in the river of Naoussa, in the summers when I did not have school I worked with him and, I cut receipts, gave documents, supported the fund. Then I studied business administration and worked in an accounting office on the island. I remember that once you met me, as you knew me from a young age, and you told me, "know the job well because you are waiting for jobs with tassels" with your brother's activity. Indeed, Arsenis's works ignited and one night in 2014, as every night we talked about the day's pending issues, the idea came to us to leave the shack and make a shop. It was an evening idea! Next year the first Arsenis delicatessen it was set up! And Arsenis made me his partner in his businesses with 50/50!»

The truth is that Theodora, having gone to many food fairs and visited many stores, did an excellent job choosing the foam cream from the best ambassadors of cheese, cold cuts, oils, pasta in Greece, choices that do not have even the most up-to-date super market.

Of course first local products have priority, all the productions of Arsenis, its vegetables, its fruits, its capers, its suma, follow the products of Paros (cheese, honey, wines, mountain teas and herbs), then a fan with products from the Aegean, pasta from the Chian cellar, louzes from Tinos, figs and Turkish delights from Syros, variety of cheeses from Naxos, all kinds of rusks, pastries, pasta and fruit from Crete, cheese from all over Greece, Chania rye milk, Kos cheese from Kos, Chios mastelo, Mytilene oil cheese, followed by all of Greece, with the exquisite Sausages of Strimmenos, pik by Miran and Saarpot from Drama, village trahanades, yogurts Costarelos etc.

Η Paros she should be very proud of these two worthy children who, on the one hand loved their place and took care of it, drawing on the wisdom of the old but also on the modern knowledge by constantly innovating, and on the other their constant discrimination - like one from the European Union - thus creating an "example" and a trigger for young people to turn to agriculture and Greek food products.