40under40 Winner - Aristos Papandroulakis

Aristos Papandroulakis is Perth’s very own celebrity chef, but life as a well-known chef has taken about 30 years of hard work.

What is clear, however, is that Mr Papandroulakis has always been a self-starter. At 19 years of age he established a seafood wholesale business called SouWest Seafoods. He became sidetracked at 23 when, after a brief stint working at his cousin’s private investigation company, he set up his own called Gold’s Private Investigation Services.

But of course, food was the true calling. In 1992 he opened Aristos and gained a reputation as one of the best seafood restaurants in town, something Mr Papandroulakis attributes to his keen eye for quality seafood.

His success as a restaurateur paved the way to a television career. Channel 9 executives dining at Aristos approached him for a one-off segment but after good feedback they offered him his own weekly show.

He became the number one rating chef on national TV and not surprisingly was poached by Network Seven in 2000 for a series called Celebrity Chef. 

Mr Papandroulakis is still very heavily involved in WA’s restaurant scene mainly through his seafood cafe and wholesale business, Aristos Waterfront, which he opened in Bunbury in November 2003.

The business employs 25 staff and specialises in seafood processing, wholesale and retail fresh seafood, and, of course, great cafe food and atmosphere.