Sam Panopolous

Early Life

Sotirios Panopoulos was born in 1934 in the small mountain village of Vourvoura, in Arcadia province, Greece. He was one of five children of Georgia and Vasilios Panopoulos. His father fitted horseshoes and made saddles. Growing up, he dreamed of becoming a dentist. However, in the late 1940s, few opportunities existed as his village was affected by the Greek Civil War. Instead, according to his son in a later Globe and Mail interview, the young Sotirios was enlisted to help deliver medicine to treat wartime patients.

Immigration

In 1954, Sotirios Panopoulos, then 20 years old, left Greece by boat. He wanted to join his older brother in Canada so he sailed away, with very little in the way of possessions. While on the way, he stopped by Naples, Italy ― believed to be the birthplace of pizza.

Later that year, he arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Soon he settled in Ontario, where he worked in the mines in Sudbury and Elliot Lake. He took on the nickname “Sam.” By the early 1960s, he moved south of Lake Huron. There, he and his two brothers operated a number of restaurants.

In October 1962, he and his brother Nikitas (Nick) started to run a dining lounge in downtown Chatham. Located on 145 King Street West, close to the Thames River, the restaurant was called Satellite. It was set up after some renovations in a building that previously housed a CN Railway ticket office and travel agency. Inside, the main section could host 60 people while a private banquet hall could welcome 45. There, they served traditional American fare like burgers and fries as well as all-day breakfast. Within two years of opening the establishment, the Panopoulos brothers applied for a licence to sell liquor in their dining lounge.

Hawaiian Pizza

Sam Panopoulos claimed that he created the first Hawaiian pizza in Chatham. At the time, on top of serving Western food, Satellite also had a selection of Asian-style dishes. Inspired in part by this Americanized Chinese cuisine, and with no proper training on making pizza, Panopoulos started to experiment. (See also Chinese Food in Canada.)

"In those days people didn't mix the tastes like sweet and sour, except for Chinese food," he said in a 2010 interview with the Toronto Sun.

Panopoulos decided to put pineapple chunks on a pizza to find out how it would taste. He and his brothers liked the contrast between the sweetness of the pineapple and the savoury flavour of the ham. He called his innovation “Hawaiian” after the brand of canned pineapples that he used to prepare it.

Customers initially did not like the new creation. Panopoulos said people told him he was "crazy to do this." But when patrons caught on, the restaurant became a “big business” for him.

Community Involvement and Other Restaurants in Chatham

Sam Panopoulos became a prominent figure in the local Chatham community. In 1963, he was inducted as a member of the Junior Chamber of Commerce International (Jaycees). The following year, he became an officer of the Windsor-Chatham branch of the Canadian Restaurant Association (later known as Restaurants Canada). In 1965, he and his brother were involved in public discussions about the planned redevelopment of the Thames Riverfront. During that period, the Satellite Restaurant also became a venue for local social events.

On 5 May 1969, the three brothers Nick, Sam and Elias incorporated. They also bought another property to build a new store on the same block as Satellite.

In its 10th year of operations, a string of arson attacks targeted the restaurant and adjacent businesses. In April 1972, more than five fires were set at commercial buildings in downtown Chatham. Firemen were able to respond quickly enough, preventing any serious damages.

By the end of the decade, business continued to thrive for the brothers. Panopoulos opened another restaurant along St. Clair Street, north of Highway 40, in Chatham. First called Satellite Drive-in, it was later renamed as Alberto’s Tavern. In 1976, Satellite’s downtown location was sold to another Greek family.

The Panopoulos family focused their ventures on the newer and bigger tavern. The following year, they added 70 more seats to its existing 250 banquet facilities. The additional wing, which was next to their pizza takeout place, was called the Family Circle restaurant. But in 1980, the brothers decided to sell their dining complex. Their former cook from Satellite bought the business operations for $500,000 at the time.

Personal Life and Later Years

On a brief return to his native Greece, Sam Panopoulos married Christina Lymberopoulos in 1967. Together they had a son and a daughter.

In the 1980s, he and his family moved to London, Ontario. There, the Family Circle Restaurant was revived. Located on 147 Wellington Road, it became a landmark in downtown London. He ran it for almost three decades. After 50 years in the restaurant business, he retired in 2007. The restaurant was eventually sold to a different Greek management.

Death and Legacy

Sam Panopoulos took pride in creating Hawaiian pizza which grew in popularity across Canada and other countries. After his retirement, he was interviewed by several media outlets, claiming that he was the first to use pineapple and meat together on a pizza. In 2010, he told the London Free Press that it was “an invention by accident.”

Years later, in 2017, a social media fad and a tweet from the office of Justin Trudeau triggered a wave of articles. Additional interviews of Panopoulos gave him the platform to distinguish himself as its inventor. However, he didn't register for a trademark or patent. In a CBC Radio interview, he said that, for him “it was just another piece of bread cooking in the oven.”

On 8 June 2017, Sam Panopoulos died at the University Hospital in London. He passed away surrounded by his family. He was 82 years old. Funeral rites were held at the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox church, where hundreds gathered. (See Orthodox Church.) He was laid to rest at Woodland Cemetery. His death drew international attention to Hawaiian pizza, with some people hating it and others loving it. Posthumously, in honour of Sam Panopoulos’ enduring legacy, 20 August, his birthday, is observed yearly as International Hawaiian Pizza Day.