A new fast-casual Greek restaurant has opened at 3006 South Sepulveda Boulevard in West Los Angeles, serving charbroiled souvlaki skewers, gyros carved from meat cooked in-house on a traditional vertical rotisserie, and baklava alongside Greek donuts. The opening marks the latest expansion move for Nick the Greek, a chain that started as a single storefront near San Jose State University and has since grown into a national operation with more than 100 locations spread across eight states.
The West LA restaurant is owned and operated by multi-unit franchisees Hany Ghatta and Vipul Katariya, who previously opened Nick the Greek's 90th national location in North Hollywood in August 2025, according to RestaurantNews.com. Katariya also runs Nick the Greek locations in Yorba Linda, Ventura, and Santa Ana, part of a multi-unit territory spanning Los Angeles, Orange, and Ventura counties. The new Sepulveda Boulevard shop is open daily from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. and can be reached at 424-248-0431.
A Family Business Turned Eight-State Chain
Nick the Greek traces back to 2014, when cousins known as Big Nick, Little Nick, and Baby Nick Tsigaris — each named after their grandfather — co-founded the concept, bringing what the company describes as authentic Greek street food to a fast-casual format. Before opening their own restaurant, the three grew up working in their family's San Jose diner chain, Flames Coffee Shop, according to SFGATE. The brand now operates restaurants specializing in gyros and souvlaki across Arizona, California, Kansas, Missouri, Nevada, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah.
Company leaders have said Nick the Greek plans to keep expanding throughout the United States, with dozens more locations already in development nationwide, per the same RestaurantNews.com report. Ghatta, one of the West LA franchisees, said the brand plans to continue growing throughout Los Angeles to meet demand for convenient, fresh Mediterranean food. The chain has nearly doubled its store count since 2023, and Katariya and Ghatta are already looking at opening at least two more Los Angeles County locations, according to Fast Casual.
Corporate Backing Fueled the Growth Curve
Much of that acceleration traces back to December 2022, when mega-franchisee Anil Yadav's YTG Enterprises acquired a controlling interest in Nick the Greek to push national franchising, while the three founding Tsigaris cousins kept a minority stake and stayed on in operational leadership, per PR Newswire. YTG Enterprises operates roughly 600 restaurant units across multiple major brands, giving Nick the Greek a scale of financial backing the chain hadn't previously had as a purely family-owned operation.
That backing shows up in the numbers. In 2024, Nick the Greek generated $108 million in systemwide sales, a 30.5% year-over-year increase, while expanding its unit count by 19.1% to 81 locations, according to Technomic data reported by Nation's Restaurant News. During the first half of 2026, the chain surpassed 100 open locations nationwide after posting 18.2% year-over-year same-store sales growth and a 14.8% increase in guest transactions, Fast Casual reported separately. Those gains came even as broader fast-casual sales growth slowed to 6% in 2025, with Mediterranean concepts continuing to outperform the wider industry.
Filotimo and a Growing Market
Beyond the sales figures, the company has leaned on a cultural touchstone to define its service style. Nick the Greek grounds its customer service and operational culture in filotimo, a traditional Greek value translating roughly to love of honor that emphasizes duty, pride, and community responsibility, according to the Los Angeles Times. Co-founder Baby Nick Tsigaris has frequently cited the principle as a guiding force behind how the chain prepares its food and treats guests.
The West LA opening also fits into a larger pattern in the industry. The global Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant market was valued at $4.2 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $7.9 billion by 2034, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 7.8%, per Market Research Future, with demand driven largely by customizable, health-conscious, quick-service Mediterranean food. Nick the Greek has also experimented with format beyond its typical urban inline and walk-up stores, opening its first California drive-thru location in Ceres in December 2024 alongside Highway 99 in partnership with a Union 76 travel center, according to the Ceres Courier.
Nick the Greek's West Side presence isn't entirely new to Southern California headlines. A nearby Marina Del Rey location was targeted in February 2024 during an overnight burglary spree that hit seven businesses across Venice and Marina Del Rey, with LAPD officers eventually arresting three suspects who used bicycles as getaway vehicles. That incident predates the current West LA opening and involved a different storefront, but it underscores how visible the brand has already become across the Westside as it now adds Sepulveda Boulevard to its growing Southern California map.
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