Since 1895
The story of Aphrodite Delights began in 1895 when Sophocles Athanasiou returned to his home village of Geroskipou Cyprus after many years of travelling and living overseas. He established the delights industry and his “Loukoumi Geroskipou” soon became a local favourite. Word quickly spread to the rest of the island and people began to travel to the village especially to indulge in these sweets, making Geroskipou synonymous with this fine confectionary.
Sophocles retired in 1920 and left a fully operational factory to his son in law, Gabriel Hadjizinoviou, who continued using the original recipe. In 1925 he was invited to take part in the British Empire Exhibition at the newly-built Wembley Stadium (then Empire Stadium) where he was awarded a certificate in recognition of his products.
Indeed, the company’s original packaging bore the royal symbol of the lion for many years. In 1969, as Cyprus gained its independence, he succeeded in being one of the very first Cypriots to register his company, and the enterprise and its products became known as “Aphrodite Geroskipou Delights”.
In 1964, the company was passed on to Gabriel’s son, Nicodemos Gabriel, who had many new ideas for the modernization of the traditional small factory. He and his wife Evdokia successfully managed to make Aphrodite Delights known all over the world and were soon exporting to the far reaches of the globe.
For four generations, Aphrodite Delights was housed in the very same location that was used by Sophocles. His great grand-son, George Gabriel, has been at the helm since 1994, which grew the business by moving to a new purpose built factory in Geroskipou where production continues following the food safety system ISO 22000.
The company has received many accolades over the recent years such as Best Cypriot product, best small-medium Cypriot enterprise, and has also participated in many research and development programs in collaboration with universities and other organizations.