From Scratch Offers Customers 'Exactly What They Want'

Alexios (Alex) and Anastasia Apazidis opened their unique business, "From Scratch," in the Papa Gino’s plaza at 14 North Meadows Rd., this past December.

“Since everything is made right here, whatever you get here, you can’t get anywhere else,” said Alex Apazidis, who took a break from the breakfast crowd earlier this week to talk with Medfield Patch.

“My wife and I didn’t want to open another breakfast or lunch place, we wanted to do something special so we came up with the concept of ‘From Scratch,’” he said. “Everything is made fresh on premises; we don’t open a can for anything except tuna. … All our muffins are made from scratch, our pancake mix is made from scratch, we use buttermilk and real ingredients to make our food.

“We have actual trained chefs in the kitchen who know what they’re doing and how to work with the food,” he said.

From Scratch makes its own mayonnaise, pesto, etc. They also prepare their own deli meats.

“A lot of our turkey, pork, and ham take days to prepare because we have a process: We brine it first, then we slow roast it and cut it up,” Apazidis said.

The menu has two sides – a regular ‘standard’ format and a From Scratch format, where patrons can customize their own breakfast omelet or lunch sandwich, or most anything on the menu.

The prices are reasonable and the a la carte menu is extensive.

“We’re trying to bring back the focus on giving the customer exactly what they want,” Apazidis said. “We’re not like other businesses in the sense that we look to squeeze every penny out of every transaction. We believe in not cutting costs in food, we believe in treating people and customers with respect; hopefully, all that translates into a much better experience for the customer and they
will show their appreciation for things like that by making repeat visits (and often).”

Apazidis said: “We’re going back to traditional values of treating people with respect and not trying to take advantage of anybody and, in the long run, it will be a success because people will like to come here for many different reasons, not just because it’s a good place to eat.”

From Start

Alex Apazidis said he grew up in a “typical Greek family where everybody owns a restaurant” but he did not take the straight road to restaurant management. In addition to working in restaurants for most of his life, he worked as a certified public accountant and a financial analyst – job experience he knew would be instrumental to his success if and when he opened his own business.

Looking Ahead

In the future, the Apazidis' hope to expand From Scratch offerings to include more ‘typical’ Greek food (particularly desserts), to stay open more hours to encompass dinner, to further expand the catering business, and to hopefully evolve into all locally bought food.

About the Apazidis:

The Apazidis' are Medfield residents and have three children. Alex grew up in Randolph and Anastasia, who will graduate from culinary school this summer, grew up in Greece.