In December 2024, Tanners Lakeside announced that Paul Diakomihalis would be joining the team as its newest operations partner. Now about a month in, Diakomihalis is enjoying his time with the Tanners crew. Let’s dive in and learn more about the face behind the name!
About me: “I was born here in Winter Haven in 1985 and moved with my mother to Greece in 1990. I went to school in Greece until I was 16 and then returned to the USA, to Wauchula, Florida, where my father had a very successful restaurant called The Breadboard. After it was sold, at the age of 20, I proceeded to open my own restaurant in Wauchula, which was very successful. There was an article about it on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives from the Food Network with Guy Fieri, called Paul’s Kitchen,”Diakomihalis said.
Fast forward to 2016, Diakomihalis wanted to move to a place that was bigger with more opportunities. The restaurant was sold and he purchased the old Denny’s building in Bartow on 98 and transformed it into The New Breadboard.
Diakomihalis said, “Eventually, the city bought out Mike’s Steak and Seafood on 98 and made it into Starbucks, and Mike wanted to buy my building and turn it into Mike’s Grill.”
He added, “Then, I came to Winter Haven, where I’ve been living for the last 15 years, almost. I was helping my family at Big Tom’s Diner until it was sold to a non-Greek, and then Philip and Greg found the opportunity, as they quoted, to ‘grab me and take the opportunity’ to make me a partner and try, with my experience and knowledge of the restaurant industry, to get Tanner’s to the next level again, like it used to be.”
If you’ve ever been to Tanners Lakeside, you know that they offer all sorts of great food, drinks and entertainment. Now with Diakomihalis on board, Tanners is offering lots of NEW and exciting entertainment and dining options to add to their already big list of options.
For example, starting Saturday, January 18, Tanners will be offering lakeside brunch options from 10:30 a.m. -12:30 p.m.
Tanners is located at 1006 S Lake Howard Drive in Winter Haven.
