Greek-American Ioannis Zoitas – known as “Big John” and his wife, Maria (photo), have owned a grocery store on Broadway near 110th Street-Cathedral Parkway in Manhattan since 1977. Like many immigrants they worked hard with Maria taking pride in cooking for her family, something she has done since she a 11-year-old girl growing up on the Ionian island of Lefkada. Cooking for her extended family, her cheesecakes were so successful that she suggested they sell them at the market. The humble idea turned into a lucrative venture, so lucrative that the New York Times wrote about it in an article titled “A Grocery Chain with a Neighborly Feel is Branching Out.”

Initially, Zoitas didn’t want to market his wife’s cheesecakes. But, like most Greek wives, Maria did as she felt was right and sneaked slices of cheesecakes onto the shelves. “After she scream and scream,” says Big John, aged 69. “You don’t want to hear it every day.”

The cheesecake wars between the couple in the mid-1980s slowly subsided as the family business grew and the 110th Street Store is now one of five Westside Markets the family owns including four in Manhattan and one in Maywood, New Jersey. A new store is set to open at 12th Street and Third Avenue on the East Side of Manhattan.”Maria’s Homemade” dishes, dips and desserts now have designated isles of their own.

Maria simply reinvents family recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation. U.S. consumers are lapping up Greek traditional cooking with relish.