Chris Hatgis, May 2006. Grafton, NSW.

Waratah, a family affair.

The Daily Examiner, Grafton. Staurday, August 30, 2003. Page. 9.

By Juris Graney.

Chris Hatgis leans forward and looks fondly at pictures of the Waratah Cafe.

The black, white and sepia photographs are a bit battered around the edges but they bring back nostalgic moments.

“I remember when the cafe was full, I would walk up to people sitting in the booths and ask them if they minded if they were joined by a person they didn’t know,” Chris explained.

“Nobody ever minded in those days. “They would be more than happy to be­cause they could see that people were waiting to be served. “You wouldn’t see that these days.”

Chris’ father Louis bought the Waratah Cafe off business partner Nick Andronicos in 1949, the same year Chris sailed to Australia from his hometown of Kastoria in Greece at age 13. A year later, Louis’ wife, brother and sister came to Grafton.

“I couldn’t speak English when I came out, but it was pretty easy to learn,” the former Grafton Primary School student of six months said. “It didn’t take long because of the boys I was around at school and the girls who worked behind the counter helped me.”

Coming from Greece to Australia was a monumental cultural change for Chris, especial­ly when it came to working with his father and the types of meals they prepared. “It was all mixed grills, steak and eggs, fish and a lot of roast dinners,” he said. “You don’t see that anymore (roasts) the same as you don’t see a lot of lambs fry and bacon.

“We used to get packed of a Friday and Saturday night time after the pictures. “We would start work at 8am and some nights we would finish at 9pm but on the pic­ture nights we would finish at midnight.

“On Sundays all the cafes would take it in turns of which ones would open as there were seven in between the clock tower and where the Commonwealth Bank is now.”

When Louis passed away in 1973, Chris and his mother carried on the business and moved from 52 Prince Street, across the road in 1967, than 20 years later, the Waratah Cafe moved to 91 Prince Street where it was operating un­til 18 months ago.

“By that stage we were just selling take away foods,” he said. “It all started to change when counter­lunches started to come into the pubs and clubs.”

The 68-year-old retiree, who worked in the Waratah Cafe in one form or another for 52 years, said he occasionally missed working in a place where he spent most of his life.