"Hey, someone else take some orders for a minute."
Wiping his hands on a towel, Dimitrios Dimopoulos turns his attention away from the customers surrounding his sparkling new food truck to talk a bit about the recent expansion of a Penn campus staple -- the Greek Lady.
"We opened this truck on September 2 to begin with the new school year... and especially to cater to the students going to Huntsman Hall," Dimitrios said. "The original cart in front of the Upper Quad has been there since 1985."
Tucked away next to the bridge crossing over 38th Street, the new Greek Lady truck specializes in gyros and souvlakis made to order.
"Our menu was expanded this year because customers kept asking if we had real Greek food. We also added some hot items like grilled chicken in white wine," Dimitrios said.
Among the boxes of Harney & Sons tea are now tins of Hermes brand olive oil. Yet Greek Lady favorites such as meatball and turkey sandwiches are still to be found.
"I eat here a lot, and the guys know me by my first name," Engineering senior Rushabh Kapashi said. "I think it's the best food truck in West Philly."
Originally from the small Greek town of Kateri, the Dimopoulos family manned one of the first food trucks on the Penn campus back in 1985, with 10-year-old Dimitrios helping out his mother and father in their 37th and Spruce cart.
"My parents decided to set up the cart near Penn because they liked the friendly environment. People come from all over the world, and everyone's friendly," Dimitrios said.
Olga Dimopoulos, Dimitrios' mother and the original Greek Lady, can remember a time when "only Le Ahn and another cart" lined the street across the Quad. Now, she enjoys selling to the "nice kids and professionals" who patronize her business "more and more every year."
At 11:00 AM on a weekday, there are many such Greek Lady customers. Over at 38th, while Dimitrios and another worker take orders from customers, four others in the new food truck work at chopping up lettuce for salads and grilling chicken to fill the sales.
"It's cool to work here because I get to be with my friends. I've known [Dimitrios] for almost 10 years now," Pat Egan said. "The people I get to meet are great too."
Lunchtime is the busiest time for both Greek Lady food trucks, though Olga runs the original cart from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM and Dimitrios mans the new cart until 8:00 PM.
"When people come to the truck, I want their wait time to be somewhere between four to seven minutes tops," Dimitrios said. "Even if there are many people in line, the wait time isn't long."
Though the expansion has been successful, the family has more plans for the future.
"We want to get into the catering business and next year that'll be fully ready," Dimitrios said. "Right now I'm working on a menu that will be advertised through the two food trucks, and then we'll be thinking... about opening up a store."
