The man with the most famous moustache in Orange is retiring after running eight establishments – cafes, restaurants and a pub over 58 years.
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Michael Gryllis’s last establishment the Patmos Garden Cafe at the Botanic Gardens is up for sale.
The 83-year-old wants to retire to concentrate on growing his amazing crop of grapes under his pergola and do volunteer work.
“One way or the other something is going to happen,” he said.
“But I want everyone to know, Michael’s not leaving Orange.
“I started in business in Orange on the 26th of January 1960.”
First there was Jim’s Cafe at 298 Summer Street, then the Carlton Cafe at 307 Summer Street, the Tourist Hotel [now the Hotel Orange], Michael’s Chicken and Bread Bar in Summer Street, the first Patmos restaurant upstairs at 178 Summer Street, the second Patmos at 177 Lords Place [now Hog’s], the Welcome Patmos on the corner of Hill and March streets [now 1870 restaurant] and Patmos Garden Cafe which he opened in November 2010.
He arrived in Orange in the late 1950s and worked at Email for 11 months.
“When I went to work at Email I wanted to own my own business, but I definitely wasn’t going to open my own Email,” he said.
Instead, after working in Bathurst and Sydney, he opened his first cafe selling Greek and Australian food.
He said running the hotel as a young man brought fond memories.
“It was the best time of my life,” he said.
He and wife Thea have worked together for 53 years.
“If you don’t like to work with your wife then don’t get married,” he said.
They had three children and three grandchildren.
His moustache has become a local icon.
When he battled cancer in 1986 he shaved it for a fundraiser earning $8020.
“Some people put money in for shaving it and some put money in not for shaving,” he said.
“Six months later it was back to the same.
“If I don’t fix it in the morning it goes up and down and everywhere.
“I spend five or six minutes in the morning fixing it.”
His Greek heritage, from the island of Patmos, is remembered everywhere.
Not only have his restaurants carried the Patmos name, it also is the name of his house and is on his number plate.
“[A friend said] ‘Michael is the genuine one from Patmos’,” he said.
“He lives in Patmos, he works in Patmos and he drives in Patmos.”
He said he wanted to remain active in retirement with his garden and his grapes.
“I’d like to do volunteer work anywhere,” he said.
“At 83 years old I don’t think that I can do too much work.”