Jerry Goumroian started Meráki Greek Grill in Las Vegas in 2017 — fast-casual Greek built around a working chef rather than a counter heat lamp. He recruited Nikos Georgeousis as a culinary partner and brought on Joe Djavairian as a co-owner, and the three of them ran the format up to five Nevada locations before pointing the brand at Southern Utah. Vegas Inc. named Goumroian to its 40-Under-40 in March 2025, the same year the Santa Clara storefront opened on Pioneer Parkway.

Two Utah Storefronts in the Pioneer Parkway Corridor

The Santa Clara location at 3478 Pioneer Pkwy was the brand’s first Utah room, and the St. George News framed it as a “game changer” in coverage of the opening. The second Utah location followed at 473 S River Rd in St. George, on the same River Road corridor that has filled in steadily since the Mall Drive build-out a decade earlier. Both rooms carry the brand’s full menu — gyros, souvlaki plates, lemon-roasted potatoes, house tzatziki, build-your-own bowls — and both are findable under the same brand identity online with no franchise distinction surfaced. A third Utah location at University Place in Orem is announced as coming soon, alongside two more Las Vegas openings.

The Las Vegas Spine

What makes Meráki unusual in the 435 footprint is that it crossed the Virgin River Gorge with an established Vegas spine already in place. Most cross-market restaurant traffic between the 702 and the 435 runs in the opposite direction — Salt Lake or Provo concept opens a St. George location once the snowbirds tip the demographics. Meráki ran the route the other way, from Las Vegas Valley up through Santa Clara into River Road. The brand’s “About” page is mid-update on the founding year — 2016 and 2017 both appear in different places — and news coverage tends to land on 2017. The Goumroian narrative is consistent across the brand site and the Vegas Inc. profile.

Meráki in the 435

Sources