Biography
Akis Petretzikis born and raised in Thessaloniki (born March 4th, 1984) is a Greek celebrity chef. When he turned 18, he moved to Athens to study Accounting and Finance in the Technological Educational Institute of Athens. At the same time, he started studying in a culinary school. In 2006, he moved to the United Kingdom where he worked for 5 years. In 2010, he returned to Greece to take part in the competitive cooking show The Master Chef. Six months later he was named the 1st Greek Master Chef.
The Greek Master Chef was the beginning of Akis' TV journey, both nationally and internationally. He appeared in the morning show (My Morning) from 2012 to 2014. From 2012 until 2014, he worked as a Head Chef in Michel Roux's restaurant Avenue Bistro in the Metropolitan Hotel. In 2014, he started his own web cooking show on his YouTube channel, Kitchen Lab. He also started Akis' Kitchen, an English-language web cooking show. Since 2014, he has hosted various cooking shows: Do it like Akis (2014-2016), Stories from the list (2014-2015), A suitcase full of flavours (2016-2017), Ready, Steady, Cook (2016-2017), and Kitchen Lab (2017-2019). Since 2015, he has been collaborating with Fresh One Productions making recipes for Jamie Oliver's Food Tube channel. He is one of the 15 official affiliates of the channel.
In 2017, he hosted the cooking show Kitchen Lab which aired on the TV channel Skai. Every Saturday and Sunday, Petretzikis cooked in his own cooking lab (Kitchen Lab) making his own recipes. This show continues to air until today on Alpha channel and it is considered to be one of the most successful cooking shows on Greek TV. In 2020, Akis Petretzikis presented another food and travel show, called Akis' Food Tour. In 2020 and 2021, Akis participated in the Ready Steady Cook show on the British television channel BBC One, where talented chefs create delicious dishes in just 20 minutes.
Akis Petretzikis is the CEO of Akis Petretzikis Ltd - a company that publishes cooking magazines and books, produces cooking shows, runs restaurants and an e-shop with various gifts and kitchen products, designed by himself. His first awarded cookbook ,"You've got to try this", was published in 2014. In 2016, in collaboration with Nestlé Dessert couverture, he published his second book, "Only Chocolate".
In 2017, he published his third book, Piece of Cake. During the same year, he published his new self-titled magazine, a cooking magazine published by Attikes Publishing House. Published every 3-months, its target audience includes both beginners as well as experienced cooks.
In 2018, he published another book, My Greek Cuisine, which includes traditional and other recipes borrowed by Greek customs, holidays, traditions, and family moments. A year later, the same book was published in English, titled "Greek Comfort Food". In the same year (2019), another book by Akis Petretzikis, Street Food, was released. In its pages, one can find 120 recipes divided into 12 categories, according to their main characteristic, which cover a wide range of choices like meat, fish, pasta, breads, desserts, etc. These recipes come from several parts of the world and manage to bring street food to the reader's kitchen. In 2021, Akis published his new book the "Ultimate Vegetarian and Vegan Cookbook", that has more than 140 vegetarian and vegan dishes.
Akis, as a young and talented chef full of energy and ideas, has a very strong presence in social media as well. He is very active on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Viber, Instagram, and TikTok. He also has an English YouTube Channel. In 2017, Akis won: the Social Media Golden Award for most effective use of Instagram (Best Overall Presence on Instagram), the Platinum Award for best overall presence on Instagram, the Golden Award for best and most effective and overall presence on Facebook (Best Overall Presence on Facebook), the Golden Award for best overall presence on YouTube (Best Overall Presence on YouTube), and the Silver Award for best management of Social Media and best Marketing related to current events (Best Real-Time Marketing) from Social Media Awards Greece. In 2017, Akis launched his own e-shop, the Akiseshop, where his fans can find Akis' products and limited series with the chef's signature. However, the core of his online presence remains his website, akispetretzikis. For almost a decade now, his website is one of the most popular cooking websites in Greece.
Akis runs five restaurants: Kitchen Lab in Agia Paraskevi, Kitchen Lab Corner in the centre of Athens,Kitchen Lab in Glyfada, Burger AP in Agia Paraskevi and Burger AP Corner in the city centre. In 2018, he won 2 Tasty Awards for his restaurants.
