{"id":28669,"date":"2020-07-23T13:18:54","date_gmt":"2020-07-23T10:18:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisegreece.com\/?p=28669"},"modified":"2025-08-04T19:30:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T16:30:08","slug":"meet-panagiotis-and-georgia-from-princess-stafida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wisegreece.com\/en\/blog-en\/meet-panagiotis-and-georgia-from-princess-stafida\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Panagiotis and Georgia from \u201cPrincess Stafida\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

They love raisins\u2014and created their very own \u201cPrincess\u201d! Meet Panagiotis and Georgia, the people behind \u201cPrincess Stafida,\u201d who bring us their exceptional products. Let\u2019s get to know them…<\/p>\n

Tell us a bit about yourself. How did you get started? What inspired you to get into food production?<\/strong>
The story of cultivating black Corinthian raisins and sultanas in our family goes back to around 1930, when my great-grandfather, Philippos Christodoulou, like many villagers at the time, realized that grain alone wasn’t enough to survive. So, he planted vineyards producing both black and blond raisins, which were sun-dried on the threshing floors.<\/p>\n

With this long-standing family tradition and having worked in the fields since I was a child (around 8\u201310 years old), I eventually left high school midway and devoted myself entirely to what I had loved since I was young\u2014cultivating raisins and more. Through hard work and hands-on learning in the vineyards during all stages of cultivation and harvest\u2014and by modernizing our farming methods\u2014we reached a point where our products, although smaller in volume than in the past, soared in quality. That\u2019s what motivated us to start packaging these products and slowly begin promoting them ourselves, facing all the difficulties that such a venture entails, and placing them on the shelves of selected shops in Greece and abroad.<\/p>\n

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Tell us about the brand. What does it stand for? Why did you create it?<\/strong>
This project began in February 2016, right in the heart of the economic crisis, and it was met with skepticism from many people, both acquaintances and strangers. It caused us a lot of anxiety and doubt about whether it was worth pursuing. A key person who helped erase those doubts was our agronomist, Mr. Christos Psarrakos, who has worked with us for many years.<\/p>\n

We took the risk and launched \u201cPrincess Stafida,\u201d a name inspired by the title given to raisins by the Ancient Greeks, and also because at that time my wife, Georgia Lalioti, was pregnant with our first child\u2014our little daughter. That gave even more meaning to the name.<\/p>\n

None of this would have been possible without the full support of my wife. Despite her degree in Business Administration (Economics and IT), she gave it all up to stand by me since 2006\u2014not only managing the business but also helping with all the hands-on work in the fields. Although difficulties often push you to your limits, you learn to overcome them and face challenges you never thought possible.<\/p>\n

Our business is a family affair, which means everyone\u2014our parents, siblings, even nieces and nephews\u2014gives their all to help us produce high-quality products.<\/p>\n

Our motto \u201cwith knowledge, respect, and passion\u201d perfectly reflects what we strive for:
Knowledge<\/strong> passed down from generations\u2014my father and grandfather.
Respect<\/strong> not only for the consumer and what they receive, but also for the traditional farming methods we inherited.
And passion<\/strong>\u2014our deep love for cultivation and for the products we bring to market. We aim to make sure that the product you find on the store shelf is equal to, or even better than, what we would have on our own kitchen shelf.<\/p>\n

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How did you start? What challenges did you face?<\/strong>
There were many challenges, the biggest being our lack of knowledge when it came to product packaging and promotion. We knew how to work the land to get the best results, but getting a product onto a store shelf takes many difficult steps.<\/p>\n

Another major obstacle was (and still is) the financial burden, especially in agriculture where costs have been rising and taxation is high. The state’s inability to adequately support producers who want to take their work a step further also made things harder. So, we had to invest our own money to bring our vision to life.<\/p>\n

Tell us about your products. What makes them different?<\/strong>
Our first packaged products were:<\/p>\n