What Is Grand Venture Group?

Grand Venture Group is the union of four young entrepreneurial brothers, raised in the San Francisco  Bay Area by Greek immigrant parents and grandparents. Nick, John, Mike and George Fanourgiakis, together hold 11 U.S and 4 International patents with 13 patents pending.  Their innovations come from a self-taught, independent, problem-solving family legacy, and with this unique application of design thinking, they are bringing change to industries most resistant to change.  

GVG Difference

In dramatic contrast to other iconic Silicon Valley success stories, family is central to the success of these unique brothers.  They learned the tenants of business and importance of ethics from their non-English speaking grandparents and parents, who immigrated from Greece to develop and run food and beverage concessions on the San Francisco Bay ferries.  At the same time, they received an early understanding of engineering from their father who worked in the mechanics of heavy machinery in early days of the Silicon Valley.  

Working together from high school to present day, the four eschewed formal college academics for an “experience is the best teacher” school of learning. From their family, they were taught “with hard work nothing is impossible,” opening the door to their belief that “anything is possible.”

Their First Innovation

Now known as Grand Venture Group, the Fanourgiakis brothers are making many things possible.  Their first innovation, The Clean Cart System, was created-- not in an iconic Silicon Valley garage-- but in the driveway of their family home.  While John worked with the highly respected retail design and build firm, Sutti & Associates to develop the design and construction of Whole Foods stores on the West Coast, he learned that unsanitary shopping carts presented a pain point to the high standards of retail grocers like Safeway.  

The four brothers including George, still in high school, bought an old trailer, parked it in the driveway and created the Clean Cart System, a mobile cart washing system that produces sparkling, sanitary shopping carts. The system, adopted by Safeway and gourmet markets including Draeger’s and Piazza Fine Foods, was a hit and earned the brothers their first of many patent filings in 2003.  With the added ecological benefit of collecting the grey water used for the cleaning process, the system was the right answer to a universal grocery industry issue. 

While iterating better versions of the Clean Cart and starting research for their next innovation, the brothers decided that they wanted to challenge their diversity in business and go back to their roots . Following the family tradition of celebrating life around the dinner table, they created Sandwich Monkey, a restaurant and catering company. Sandwich Monkey was a hit from the start in 2013, selling out of sandwiches completely on opening day in their Foster City location, and growing to today’s catering choice for leading Silicon Valley businesses and customers.


From sandwiches to coffee, the brothers established Penelope’s Coffee & Tea, in 2014.  Now a cult favorite, this independent coffee shop is named after their grandmother and her devotion to family and food.  Penelope’s has grown from a single popular coffee shop in Foster City to becoming an embedded fixture in Silicon Valley corporate offices.  

Transforming An Industry with Techni, LLC

In working with Sutti & Associates, designers and builders of Whole Foods stores, the brothers learned that the traditional retail industry faces multiple dilemmas.  Online shopping is fast becoming the norm.  Bringing customers into traditional brick and mortar stores requires retailers to provide an extraordinary experience to shoppers. From top-tier retail environments such as Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus, to large, discount outlets such as Safeway, Costco and Target, retailers are locked into permanent displays and shelving designs. Merchants have no easy options for changing their store layouts quickly and efficiently.

Enter the Ellipse Shelving Platform. Developed over six years of research by these young entrepreneurs,  this latest innovation gives retailers a simple way to change their stores’ look and experience. Now retailers can adapt their space as often as they like, changing aisles to circles and straight shelves into serpentine rows. These bendable shelves can be embedded with technology that communicates with shoppers’ smartphones and provides an interactive, customized experience while allowing stores to be responsive and flexible with their product offerings and inventory.  


ellipse fly through

What’s Next?


Grand Venture Group embraces new challenges from finding the perfect cup of coffee to transforming the retail industry with industry changing innovation.  As they bring the Ellipse system to market and move forward to develop their next projects with 13 new patents pending, one thing remains the same, the brothers will continue to be family-first, independent entrepreneurs with the belief that anything is possible.

The Brothers

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Nick Fanourgiakis

Age: 36


Role in the business: 

President, Sandwich Monkey 

President, Penelope's Coffee & Tea. 

Vice President, J&N Quality Enterprises

Founder, Clean Cart Systems

.


Where were you born: Bay Area


Favorite subject in school: Athletics. I found athletics and business to be very similar. The constant strive for advancement while strategically positioning yourself and collaborating with your team, makes for success. 


Favorite business project so far: Clean Cart Systems


Why: To see something that started as an idea in our family garage come to life with minimal resources.


Most important lesson learned from family:  Never give up!


Dream job/invention/innovation: To be able to work with entrepreneurs on all different levels helping them with their ideas from conception to reality. 


Person you most admire: My grandfather, John Sarikakis, passed down to me his business model of  hard work, honesty and integrity, which will lead you to success in anything you do. 


image6

John Fanourgiakis

Age: 34


Role in the business: 

President, J&N Quality Enterprises

Founder, Clean Cart Systems

Founder, Penelope’s Coffee & Tea

Founder, Sandwich Monkey


Where were you born: Bay Area


Favorite subject in school: Science, Automotive, and Economics


Favorite business project so far: Inventing and engineering the Clean Cart Systems washer.


Why: Because it was one of our first inventions. There was a great deal of engineering and innovation that had to go into it. I was especially proud when our product that was invented by four brothers with no engineering background, earned an ETL  certification (Product Safety Certification) with flying colors.


Most important lesson learned from family: Family always comes first. With them you can accomplish your goals no matter how outside the box or your comfort zone they are.


Dream project/invention/innovation:  To pass on to my children the same values taught to me by my grandparents and parents.


Person you most admire:  My grandfather John Sarikakis and my father Dimitrios , for coming to this country and starting a legacy in family and business with so many odds against them. And my mother Mary who was the only woman in a house with five guys. She still manages to be the glue that always holds everything together.  


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Mike Fanourgiakis

Age: 32

Role in the business: 

Founder, Penelope's Coffee & Tea

Founder, Sandwich Monkey

Founder, J&N Quality Enterprises

Founder, Clean Cart Systems


Where were you born: Bay Area


Favorite subject in school: Math


Favorite business project so far: Becoming a Master Certified Mechanic for Mercedes.


Why: The challenge of figuring out how to fix something and the gratification it gives me when the job is completed.


Most important lesson learned from family:  Work together.


Dream project/invention/innovation: Work for NASCAR


Person you most admire:  My father, Dimitrios Fanourgiakis


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George Fanourgiakis

Age: 29

Role in the business: 

Founder, Penelope's Coffee & Tea

Founder, Sandwich Monkey

Founder, J&N Quality Enterprises

Founder, Clean Cart Systems


Where were you born: Bay Area


Favorite subject in school: Math


Favorite business project so far: Techni llc


Why: To be able to dream of an idea and see it come true. 


Most important lesson learned from family:  When you say you're going to do something, you finish it. No matter how long or how hard. 


Dream project/invention/innovation: To be able to help entrepreneurs achieve their dreams and see them become real. 


Person you most admire: In my life I been blessed to have many people to admire, to pick one and take away from the others, would be foolish.



Companies

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Techni LLC

Techni LLC embraces challenging ideas for the retail industry.  We do not hesitate to explore new possibilities for an existing concept or to challenge the “status quo”.

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Sandwich Monkey

Located in Foster City, Sandwich Monkey is currently rated one of the best sandwich shops in the Bay Area. Our store and large-scale catering services provide excellent sandwiches and salads. 

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Penelope's Coffee & Tea

Kafés in Greece were

the places to gather and

share the experiences of

the day.


With roots from Crete, the

Fanourgiakis Family, long standing

Foster City residents and founders

of Penelope’s Coffee and Tea, knew

coffee shops and cafes were a part of

daily life for their friends, family and

neighbors. The “kafés” were the places

to gather and share the experiences

of the day. When they thought of

building a business in Foster City, they

looked only as far as their memories

of a time where there was a genuine

sense of community and a feeling

of always being welcome to share a

story with an old (or new) friend over

a cup of coffee (or tea).

Contact Us

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Grand Venture Group

3555 S. El Camino Real | Suite 403 | San Mateo | California | 94403 | United States

1 (650) 222-9830