Hellenika Gold Coast: Much-loved Nobby Beach bar and restaurant shuts doors

The Gold Coast’s most respected restaurateur has sold, and now closed, his popular restaurant Hellenika with a ‘heavy heart’. He reveals why.

THE Gold Coast’s most respected restaurateur Simon Gloftis has sold the city venue which made his name, shutting much-loved Hellenika to focus on his new ventures in Brisbane.

His hugely popular Greek restaurant and rooftop bar at Nobby Beach had its final night of trading as Hellenika on Sunday.

Mr Gloftis confirmed he has sold a 20-year lease to the site and almost all contents to the team behind Burleigh’s popular Justin Lane Establishment. The deal is expected to be official as of today.

Hellenika owner Simon Gloftis. Picture: NIGEL HALLETT

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Mr Gloftis said he would retain the rights to the name Hellenika which will be removed from the Nobbys site.

For Gloftis, 39, it brings to an end – for now – an almost 20-year association with the Gold Coast hospitality scene which started with Three Beans espresso bar in Broadbeach when he was 21.

His shutdown of Hellenika follows his request for Star to release him from his contract as a partner in Broadbeach rooftop restaurant Nineteen in July.

Back in 2016 he sold The Fish House in Burleigh, popular with foodies, celebs and the cream of the Coast.

Mr Gloftis said: “It is with a heavy heart I close the doors on my Gold Coast restaurant journey – for the time being at least. It will be a strange feeling not running a local venue. I owe a lot to the Gold Coast and don’t think I’d have had the same opportunities anywhere else.

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Simon Gloftis. Picture: NIGEL HALLETT

HELLENIKA GOLD COAST BUILDING FOR SALE

“ I also credit the people of the Gold Coast for embracing the concept of a Greek restaurant at Nobby’s Beach, which was a big step for the local dining scene at the time. For that, I will be eternally grateful.”

Mr Gloftis, whose Fish House and Hellenika put the city food scene on map, said Hellenika was a giant risk personally when he opened it 10 years ago when Nobbys had little on offer.

“It was almost my naivety and stupidity to think I could make this 140-seater restaurant work in Nobbys with a then-methadone needle exchange and old RSPCA opshop.”

His focus will be on his second Hellenika which opened earlier this year at Brisbane’s five-star Calile Hotel precinct where he also launches SK Steak and Oyster restaurant next month.

Mr Gloftis said telling his 65 Hellenika staff at Nobbys would be difficult, adding his mother had cried at the news: “She said ‘I know you sell your businesses but this is the special one’.”

SIMON GLOFTIS LEAVES NINETEEN AT THE STAR

The rooftop at Hellenika in Nobby Beach. Photo: Supplied

Mr Gloftis said of his main reason for selling: “I could see small cracks I couldn’t putty over because I was (in Brisbane). They were only small things but I couldn’t handle watching that at the one restaurant that has changed my life, the thing I loved the most because I can’t look after it.”

Mr Gloftis said he could no longer be there five nights a week “shaking hands, shouting the desserts, doing the little things a restaurateur does”.

“It was time. But I hope I have made a positive impact on hospitality on the Gold Coast and in my staff’s lives.

“I hope I have led by example and hope the people who take it go further with it, take it to the next level.”

Separately his parents James and Krystina Gloftis are in negotiations to sell the Hellenika building.