In 1910 Leonidas Kestekides, a confectioner in the US, travels to Belgium for the first time to show his confectionery goods and immediately meets with great success due to the quality of his products.

The young Léonidas Kestekides, confectioner in the US since the early 1900s, attends the 1910 World Fair in Brussels and the 1913 World Fair in Ghent as a member of the Greek delegation from the United States.

He is awarded the bronze medal and the gold medal, respectively for his chocolate confectionery and his patisserie.

Having won great professional recognition and having also fallen in love with a beautiful young girl from Brussels, whom he later marries, Léonidas decides to settle permanently in Belgium. He opens tea-rooms in Brussels, Ghent and Blankenberge.