Meet Kody Harris of Fresko, A Mediterranean Kitchen in Ahwatukee

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kody Harris.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Being born into a large Greek family that owned several restaurants since the early 1940s, the business was in my blood. Started washing dishes at eight and graduated to cooking in our fried chicken restaurant at 13, my mother, aunts, uncles, and grandparents were my first culinary instructors. At 17, I left the family business and began working as a fry cook in a high volume fish house in Portland Oregon. I was literally hooked at that point on all I wanted to be was a chef.

After becoming an accomplished high volume line cook, I was promoted to sous chef and started to attend culinary school, way back when it was not trendy to do so. I worked my way up and became an executive chef working for a company out of Portland Oregon called Pacific Coast restaurants. As an executive chef, I opened 15 stores for them and eventually became a corporate chef. In 2007, the company sold and I moved on to a company out of Oklahoma City, Eateries Inc and became the corporate chef overseeing three concepts in 22 states. In 2010, I became the Executive Chef for a company called CEG and developed and opened all of the Thirsty Lions nationwide.

In 2015, it was time for me to leave the corporate world, at the age of 50, it was time to get rid of travel and focus on family. The chef bug could not be tamed, so with my wife and business partner Janna, we developed Fresko. This is my true soul food, what I grew up on, what made me who I am so in paying homage to my family Fresko was born.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The road is never smooth in the restaurant business, but a labor of love. Getting our name out there and capturing the locals were our main struggles, but now entering year three, we are really starting to cook… no pun intended.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Fresko, A Mediterranean Kitchen story. Tell us more about it.
Our specialty is eastern Mediterranean with emphasis on Greek with splashes of Lebanese, Israel, and Syrian with a few of my own dishes I created.

I am most proud of our ability to provide healthy great tasting fresh, locally sourced food on a daily basis. Yep, we only have a freezer to hold ice!

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The proudest moments of my career is how I have touched peoples lives. From employees to guests to fellow chefs, I feel that through the food I have met and helped people achieve their goals, in turn, achieving mine.

Contact Info:

• Address: 5033 E Elliot Road
  Phoenix, AZ 85044
• Website: Freksokitchen.com
• Phone: 480.940.3669
• Email: eat@freskokitchen.com
• Instagram: @freskokitchen
• Facebook: facebook.com/freskokitchen

Image Credit:
Scott Yates

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