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S10E3: Service and Success: Inside Nicholas and Company's Family Legacy with Nicole and Peter Mouskondis
Thursday, 23 April, 2026
In this episode of our hallmark tenth season of the Eccles Business Buzz podcast, host Frances Johnson sits down with Nicole and Peter Mouskondis, the CEO and Owner, respectively, of Nicholas and Company, a third-generation, family-owned-and-operated broadline foodservice distribution company in the Intermountain West. Nicole and Peter are also being recognized with the Distinguished Entrepreneur Award at this spring’s David Eccles School of Business Hall of Fame event. Peter describes giving back through boards and the University of Utah after benefiting from mentors at key times, while Nicole reframes service as stewardship and servant leadership tied to community impact. They recount the immigrant journey of Nicholas and Company founder, Nicholas himself, the company’s creative beginnings selling dented canned goods, and their eventual growth into broadline foodservice. Nicole explains the values behind “Nicholas and Company,” the shift from the PRIDE acronym to an MVP model, and the Greek ethos of “philotimo.” Peter and Nicole discuss entrepreneurial courage, sales lessons, major innovations like an ERP implementation, people-first leadership and empathy, COVID-era adaptation and food donations, the pressure of being the third generation of a family business, and a structured succession plan as their children enter the business as well.Eccles Business Buzz is a production of the David Eccles School of Business and is produced by University.fm.Eccles Business Buzz is proud to be selected by FeedSpot as one of the Top 70 Business School podcasts on the web. Learn more at https://podcast.feedspot.com/us_business_school_podcasts. Eccles Business Buzz is a production of the David Eccles School of Business and is produced by University FM.Episode Quotes:The entrepreneurial grit behind Nicholas and Company’s success[20:26] Peter Mouskondis: You know, I am a young man, Nicole and I had just gotten engaged. We had just put money down on our house. And I came home and said, you know, "My dad basically has fired me and said the last stop is on sales, and if you make it, that's great, and if you don't, go do something completely different." And, you know, that was scary. You find ways of becoming very creative, and I know at one time I actually slept in my car in Park City because I was waiting for the chefs to come in the next morning. I wanted to be right there when they came in. And so, you get really creative in the sense of what you're trained to either sell or how you portray yourself. And that was not only fruitful, I mean, in the end, you know, thank goodness I was successful there, but it was scary. And that's something I think any entrepreneurial person would go through starting a brand-new company like my grandfather.How changing the mission felt almost sacrilegious but was necessary for the future generations. [16:11] Nicole Mouskondis: We have this secret ingredient called philotimo. So, at every step of the way in that mission statement, there is an absolute nod to everything that is unique about us. Preserving our family recipe for success, the family recognizes that we're a family business. The recipe for success recognizes that we're in food service. And securing the dreams recognizes that this started with the American dream, this immigrant story of an American dream. And everybody has dreams for themselves, their future, their families, for all future generations. And that's really a nod to this fact that we are a legacy business. We intend to be here to stay for generations to come. That secret ingredient in the recipe for success is this Greek word called philotimo. And at the time, especially, nobody knew what that meant. Nobody knew what that was. There still is no single English translation for the word. So, we had to come up with our own definition and explain to people what it was. And in the Greek culture, it is this sense of honor, this love and honor, and this duty and obligation to one another to make things better, to right the wrongs, to do what's right simply because it's right. It's, kind of, all-encompassing, this aspiration. We're not perfect, but it's something that resonates with all of our stakeholders as something that we are trying to become every single day and trying to make that so that it's not just words on the wall, but that we live that aspiration.Why empathy is an important leadership tenet [31:05] Nicole Mouskondis: I think one of the most important leadership tenets ever is empathy. And so, if you can lead by, you know, really trying to put yourself in the shoes of someone else, I mean, at the end of the day, it all comes down to people. And so, when we have to make changes, we don't take those lightly because you're impacting and affecting somebody's world, somebody... It is personal to them. It's not just business to them if you have to make a change that, you know, they feel, like, is not a good change for them.Show Links:Nicholas and CompanyNicole Mouskondis | LinkedInHall of Fame | David Eccles School of BusinessDavid Eccles School of Business (@ubusiness) | InstagramUndergraduate Scholars ProgramsRising Business LeadersEccles Alumni Network (@ecclesalumni) | Instagram Eccles Experience Magazine
