Dimitri Dimitropoulos
Number of Years in the Gateway: It has been nine years now.
What drove you to bringng a business to the GTM? Wanting to own a Culver’s, I looked in Illinois and around Milwaukee. I selected The Gateway site because Culver’s was a step up versus the local competition then, Layton Avenue had a lot of traffic on it and there seemed to be a lot of people in businesses in the area, plus the area was growing. This is now one of the busier Culver’s locations in southeast Wisconsin.
Proudest Accomplishment: I’m proud of the success of the Culver’s here because a number of people questioned selecting this location. It’s proven to be a good place to invest money and help the area develop. Toward that end, I’d also invested in a lot across from Culver’s on the north side of Layton and on the north half of that, a Courtyard by Marriott will begin developing soon. Also, I’m very proud that this Culver’s has been an annual “green thumb” award dinner among Culver’s franchisees. We’ve received numerous compliments about the appearance of the restaurant and lot. This is significant to me in my role as the chair of GTM's Beautification Committee.
Biggest Challengnge: Just getting the restaurant open after convincing banks and others to believe that Culver’s would be a good business in this area.
What do you envision for the future? With your business? With GTM? I expect Culver’s to grow as The Gateway develops. Hopefully we will see more retail establishments and restaurants in the area. It will be good to have the whole property northeast across Layton from Culver’s be developed. I really want to see GTM grow, have it help bring new businesses to the area, have the area look better through beautification and make sure that businesses take care of their properties.
