Email: GeorgeHadjis@oggis.com
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George T. Hadjis
Lecturer, Management Dept.
George Hadjis is the founder and CEO of Oggi’s Pizza & Brewing Co. He was born and raised in Astoria, NY where he earned his BA degree in Finance from Pace University and MS degree in Guidance and Counseling from St. John’s University. He married Dora in 1973 and together moved cross country and settled in Huntington Beach, CA. There they had their daughter Estella and son Tommy.
George earned his MBA from Pepperdine University and his career took the course of high tech working for companies like Texas Instruments, Fujitsu and Anacomp as a logistics manager. At the age of 40, George and his family decided to leave the public sector and start their own business. Being in his blood, his father an immigrant from Greece became a successful businessman in the fur district of New York City and his uncle in Delaware who became a successful hotel and restaurant owner. He wanted to be his own boss and control his destiny.
The new venture started in 1991 with the opening of the first restaurant in Del Mar, CA. George, along with his wife and brother John dove into the business working 7 days a week for months. Nothing was going to keep them from succeeding. The first years were very difficult because they opened during a recession. The hard work soon paid off as interested customers started inquiring about opening a restaurant of their own. That led George and his family to begin franchising the concept and since then have grown to 17 locations in Southern California and Arizona.
George’s daughter Estella entered the business after graduating from Cal Poly SLO with a degree in Marketing. She later earned her MBA from SDSU and took the franchise to a new level with her vision of partnering with local sports teams and their concessions in the stadiums and arenas. She is now the Vice President of Sales and Marketing.
George’s son Tommy also entered the family business after graduating from USD majoring in Business and Marketing. Tommy started off in the marketing department for the franchise and is now managing the in house microbrewery. One facility in San Clemente houses the corporate offices for Oggi’s Pizza & Brewing Co. franchise as well as the central brewery which produces all the microbrewed beers for their 17 Oggi’s locations.
The information on this page represents that of George T. Hadjis and not necessarily that of San Diego State University. George T. Hadjis takes full responsibility for the information presented.
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