Athens Foods

Cleveland, Ohio is the home of Athens Foods, the world’s largest producer of phyllo dough and phyllo products. It was established in 1958 by Jim Kantzios who was also working for Ford Motor Company at the time; He began the business as a bakery, making phyllo dough, baklava, and other Greek dishes but soon found that the demand for phyllo dough increased so much that he was inspired to automate the process.  His first machine consisted of four round tables that rotated while eight people kneaded and stretched the dough. This new process increased dough production from 700 pounds to about 4,000 pounds of dough per day.

Although the business was sold to the family of its current owner, Eric Moscahlaidis, in 1982, their commitment to automation and safety continues to this day. They employ nearly 200 people and produce more than 40,000 pounds of phyllo dough and other Greek foods every day. They began partnering with Sedgwick well over a decade ago and use our resources to help them create the best safety culture possible.

Safety is part of everyone’s job at Athens Foods, and Sedgwick MCO and TPA are proud to be a part of Athens’ strong culture of safety. They concentrate on prevention of injuries through an active safety committee, investment in a wide array of cutting-edge personal protective equipment (PPE), and strong, visible leadership who take a caring approach with all their employees.

Their safety committee meets once a month to learn about a new safety topic, reports on potential safety concerns and ways to eliminate those identified risks.

Athens Foods’ leadership team shows an interest in every injury, as well as their overall workers’ comp/safety program. They meet with their Sedgwick team once a month to discuss updates and be sure they are doing everything they can to stay current and up to date on any active workers’ comp claims. As their HR Director recently shared, “Athens shows employees the ‘love’ when they get injured.  We check in on the injury, follow up on treatment and place employees in modified duty whenever possible so they have the ability to heal.  I have found that injured workers respond better to the employer when it is demonstrated that we care about getting them back to 100%”.  

Because of their thorough and caring safety culture, Athens Foods has decreased the frequency and severity of their injuries year-over-year since 2019 and have improved their experience modification rate by over 60 points in that same time frame. They are an exemplary model of a successful safety program!