When Manolis Foukarakis skewered his first piece of cubed pork onto a wooden stick back in 1994, he knew he was getting into a whole new experience.

"I had been working with food service at hotels," he remembered. "I was putting in all kinds of hours, and I decided I would find something to work only daytime hours, with Sundays off."

No one knows for sure when the first kantina rolled to a stop next to a highway on Crete, but it is believed to be in the early 90s. Prior to that time, the tax department didn’t know how to license such a business, so they weren’t allowed – legally, anyway. Then, due to the demand, the government decided to allow kantinas, in the same way they allow kiosks – to be licensed only to handicapped people and their families. Immediately, panel trucks and small busses were converted, and the aroma of sizzling pork mingled with the smell of the Cretan Sea.

Manolis, a native of Lasithi, spotted one in Iraklion, had seen the possibilities, and decided to open a kantina in the Analipsi area.

Now, almost 16 years – and about a million sticks – later, Manolis is known by thousands of his customers over the years as the "King of Kantinas."

"There were none outside of Iraklion at the time," he recalled. "I chose the Lasithi crossroad on the old national highway and was there for many years. Then, I moved the kantina to my own property down the road to Analipsi, and was there for a couple of years, but, for some unknown reason, they didn't renew my license."

 Manolis explained that getting the kantina license is an ongoing aggravation.

"They only issue them for two or three years," he explained. "You operate for a year, and then you must start the application all over again.  All the agencies must sign, and you spend your time going around begging people to sign the papers. That's if you want to be legal, like I did. Many of the kantinas are not legal."

When they didn't renew his license, Manolis said "enough is enough," and moved about 100 metres away . . . this time to an actual building, where he took out a permanent snack bar license.

"I still call it a kantina, of course, because that is what everyone knows me as," he explained. "And I still have the same menu – souvlaki, bifteki, grilled chicken, salads, fries and lamb kebabs. Just a few items, but everything is fresh every day."

Manolis starts his day around 7 a.m. when, together with his assistant, they start loading up the sticks with fresh pork.

"We do anywhere from three to five hundred a day, and that takes some time, as you can imagine," he said.

While souvlaki is like the national food of Greece, and a favourite meal-time break for most of the local population, many tourists quickly learn about the sizzling meat on a stick.

"Last year, this tourist couple from Holland came in almost everyday for lunch," Manolis said proudly. "Then, just before they were about to leave for the airport, they ordered about 20 sticks, wrapped them up in foil, and took them to Holland so they could enjoy them with some friends at home."

Now, that's what we call "take-away" service!