Sacramento County
Biographies
SAM KENOURGIOS
SAM KENOURGIOS.--A busy establishment greatly appreciated for its excellent service to Sacramento and vicinity is that of Sam Kenourgios, head of the London Baking Company at the corner of Eighth and L Streets, in the Capital City. Our subject is the senior member of the firm of Kenourgios Bros., who own the baking concern. He is a native of Greece, having been born in that country on March 28, 1888. The other brothers are John and Frank; and the three have been associated together ever since they started in business.
Coming to the United States in 1909, Sam Kenourgios pushed on westward to Salt Lake City, where he worked for wages for two years, and then, for a year and a half, he labored in Oakland, and for another year was in Benicia, in the last two named places being in the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Coming to Sacramento in 1913, he and his brother opened a small bake-shop on J Street, between Twelfth and Thirteenth Streets, and having a capital of only $2,000 between them, they had to start in a small, unpretentious way. They worked hard, however, and after two years the business had grown so that they were able to remove to a new larger and better store on Second Street, between K and L. But even there they had their bakery in the basement, while the ground floor was devoted to a grocery and they still own and conduct this place of business.
On July 23, 1921, Kenourgios Brothers bought the brick building at the corner of L and Eighth Streets. In the south end of the block they have a modern bakery plant, with modern ovens and thoroughly up-to-date machinery for the carrying on of the business in the most sanitary fashion; and the corner is the site of their salesroom, where all their products are retailed, and they maintain a first-class soda-water fountain and ice-cream parlor. They also do a large wholesale business, one of the best parlors of the high quality of their wares. They use the trade-mark, "London Made," and dispense four kinds of bread - French, Italian, twist, and domestic. They employ eleven people in the factory and salesroom, have three auto delivery wagons, bake and sell 1,500 loaves of bread daily, and make a large variety of fancy pastries. Commencing with a small capital nine years ago, their receipts now average from $6,000 to $7,000 per month. They buy their flour in car-load lots, and secure their other supplies and stock in the same wholesale fashion. They have come to enjoy their merited prosperity through their honesty of method in the transaction of business, and their practice of buying, making and selling only the best. Mr. Kenourgios is a member of the Foresters of America.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Source: Reed, G.
Walter, History of Sacramento County,
California With Biographical Sketches, Page 870. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA.
1923.
© 2007 Jeanne Taylor.