Dad builds pop-up Greek restaurant in his back garden - and hosts up to 200 diners a night

A dad-of-three who builds a pop-up Greek restaurant in his back garden every year says he caters for up to 200 diners a night - and some come from across the world. Panikos Panayiotou, 44, forked out £17,500 on building a traditional Greek taverna behind his ordinary semi-detached house in Walsall in the West Midlands.

Each summer, he and his wife Michelle and a team of volunteers dish out traditional Greek cuisine from his makeshift eatery to raise funds for charity. The restaurant prides itself on serving only freshly made, authentic dishes, with Panikos hiring an award-winning chef who usually works at a Marriott hotel.

The restaurant named The Lakis Greek Taverna boasts a full license and is drawing visitors from as far as the USA. It is now fully booked two months ahead and guests have to join a waiting list if they want to visit - or can try walk-in availability.

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Panikos shared: "It can hold about 75 customers outside and in. We can fit 200 in one night - and it's all in my garden. We've got a waiting list of people now and we get them from everywhere.

"I get people from Scotland and even from America coming over to visit little old Walsall, it's incredible really. Within two hours of opening the booking line two months in advance, we are usually 80 percent full."

He also mentioned their flexibility for walk-in patrons: "But we try and cater for walk-ins too, we can end up with people all over the back garden. Luckily the neighbours don't mind, they are fantastic on both sides."

Panikos spoke about the community spirit: "We usually do a street lunch for the locals. They're great and they love that we're raising for local causes. We've got a lot of support from our local area."

The inspiration behind the 80ft sqm restaurant was Panikos's late father, Lakis, who passed away from small cell lung cancer in 2012. Lakis, a fish and chip shop owner, had begun constructing his own taverna at his residence in his village in Cyprus but sadly passed away before its completion.

His son Panikos expressed his desire to honour his father's legacy by finishing the project his dad couldn't complete, while also supporting charitable causes.

Since completing the taverna in two months, Panikos has raised £64,000 for local charities, including Acorns Children's Hospice and initiatives aiding the homeless, since 2014.

Panikos, who works as a sports development manager, said: "I built it in memory of my father who passed away from cancer. He tried to start it, he half built a restaurant in his garden but passed away before it could be finished.

"Our traditions are to have a relationship with your loved ones in the afterlife, so you do good deeds in memory of them. And this is what we do here every year, this is for him."

"My father always wanted to run a traditional Greek taverna from his home and so it's a way of keeping his memory alive and raising much-needed money for charity.

"He'd probably think I wasn't cooking the food right, that he could do it better. But he would praise me, not to me, to others, but if he was here he would be the life of the party."

The restaurant prides itself on serving only freshly made, authentic dishes - with Michelle and a volunteer chef, who normally works at a Marriott hotel, preparing the meals.

Their standout offering is "lamb klefiko" a dish featuring marinated lamb and potatoes slow-cooked in a clay oven for 8-12 hours. Desserts include a range of home-made traditional Greek delicacies, including baklava, coconut cake and a Greek chocolate rock cake, known as "Doukissa".

Panikos stated: "I have a fantastic wife who is the strength of the operation - she does all the preparation and the desserts. At the start my mother was the driving force as well. She started us off with all the recipes and making sure the food is right. It's completely traditional.

"I'm second generation Greek Cypriot, and my mum migrated here in 1974 with my father. They came here on a working holiday but they lost their home to the Turkish.

"My parents have instilled in us the power of giving back. I do it for six weeks every year. It's all in house. Now that my mum can't help it's mainly me and my wife who do the prep. We have an award winning chef who comes up on the night."

This year, the team has raised £16,500 to assist a three year old boy with a brain tumour, among other worthy causes.

He added: "Since starting as a pop up we have grown to be an established third sector organisation that runs a series of projects and fundraisers. We also operate an active foodbank which feeds people every week."

"We have a rainy day fund. When a family needs something like a roof fixing or a microwave or who can't afford it, they can apply to us. It's an emergency fund.

"This year we would've raised £16,500 in a six week period. It makes us self sustainable as we need £12,500 just to run the charity each year. When we started we didn't expect to be doing it for this long. I want to get to 20 years if we can and help a lot of people along the way."

"We believe in the power of food and heritage to bring people together and create a positive change."