Today we’d like to introduce you to Kathryn Gianaras.
Hi Kathryn, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I am a proud Greek San Francisco Native. I attended UC Santa Barbara where I immediately joined the UCSB Waterski Team. In my second year on the team I was elected to be on the leadership team as the Social officer and was named Captain of the team my senior year. After starting working as a data entry employee, I quickly became the Sport Club Student Manager and upon my graduation, I was promoted to Office Manager for the UCSB Recreational Sports Department. In 2012 my parents offered my sister and I the opportunity to open a restaurant of our own in the same location that my parents owned their Greek Restaurant called Panos that they ran for 20 years from 1977-1997 before renting the space out to Pasta Pomodoro from 1997-2013. Upon accepting this once in a lifetime opportunity, I quickly moved back to San Francisco to work at a restaurant in order to gain necessary experience and prepare to open our own restaurant in the heart of Noe Valley with my sister. I was 25 years old with somewhat minimal experience when we opened our restaurant on March 16, 2015. Through hard work, extremely long days and perseverance our restaurant, NOVY, became a great success and has proudly been open for 9 years now. My father taught me at a young age that you can do anything you put your mind to and I have lived by that my whole life and have had many successes.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Opening NOVY with my sister, Kristen was the biggest challenge of my life. While I had plenty of management experience in my earlier life, managing all types of people, both older and younger than me, men and women in an industry that I was fairly new to was quite the rollercoaster and taught me a lot. I lost 30 pounds unintentionally in the first month that we opened from working so hard for well over 12 hours a day to the point that I literally did not have time to eat proper meals. Staff turnover was a constant battle and highly stressful in the first 1-2 years of the restaurant. There was no such thing as a work-life balance for me in the first 2 years, as it was all work 24/7. In my experience, you have to be a bit crazy to want to open a restaurant of your own.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I have always considered myself a very creative person. Opening and helping design the decor of NOVY gave me the opportunity to showcase my artistic creativity. I reconnected with my high school art teacher and collaborated with her on a major design element in the restaurant that I am very proud of (Our NOVY sign made out of recycled materials). I also came up with fun ideas for lighting and other warm and welcoming touches in the restaurant. I also always loved graphic design and taught myself how to use a design program in order to create marketing materials and media for the restaurant that I still enjoy doing to this day. With my creativity and experience putting on events I was recently elected to be a board member of the Noe Valley Merchants Association where I am able collaborate with other Noe Valley businesses in helping our community thrive.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Spending time with my family, friends and most importantly husband make me very happy. Living an active life with plenty of exercise brings me much joy and helps me stay mentally healthy. And of course, my two little dogs Mack and Ducky always make me very happy.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.novysf.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/novysf
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/novysf4000
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/novy-restaurant-san-francisco-6