Our Very Own Great Egg

If you’re an eggtc. regular, then you’ve experienced how we try to get to know all of our breakfast patrons. From time to time we ask one of our extra-special regular diners to complete a fun little questionnaire so we and our other patrons can learn more about them. These special customers are known from that point on as “Great Eggs” (while “good egg” may be the normal phrase and is a good thing, at eggtc. we recognize the true greatness of our customers, thus “Great Eggs”). These Great Eggs are posted on the website, celebrated in social media, and honored for a month or more with their photo and answered questionnaire framed and installed in a place of honor at both eggtc. locations.

For this particular Great Egg segment we’re turning the tables to let our guests get to know a little bit more about our staff, specifically South Plaza’s own Greg Milliron – perhaps better known to customers as “Barista Greg”! Keep reading to learn about his experience working at eggtc., his friendships with our breakfast-loving customers, and his answers to the familiar eggtc. Great Egg questionnaire.

What’s your favorite drink to make?

I like to make – cause I like the drink itself – the Hound Dog. It’s like a Grey Hound (vodka and grapefruit juice) with Chambord (raspberry liqueur) added to it.

Can you tell us a bit about your family:

I do have one son in college now; I don’t have any pets.

What brought you to eggtc.?

I came to eggtc. in between careers. I worked with Eyad (the GM at eggtc. South Plaza) before, next door at Minsky’s, a long time ago – probably 25 years ago. Also, I used to teach; I was actually a choir director. So when I came to eggtc., I thought I would stay for maybe a year or two, but I’ve been here for about 14 years now!

How would you describe the customers?

Our customers are faithful – and pretty entertaining! They are good people, maybe a little bit quirky at times. I’ve got a few people that I’ve known for a very, very long time, and got to know them just by waiting on them. There are quite a few people we’ve seen five times or more per week for the past ten years.

How would you describe your fellow staff?

We have a pretty low turnover rate compared to most restaurants, so most everybody gets to know each other pretty well. The best way I can describe working with my coworkers is that there are a lot of good friendships. You could call us a highly functioning, dysfunctional family –  that’s from M*A*S*H, but it describes us pretty well. We work in a high intensity, high pressure environment. We have strong personalities but a close enough kinship to trust working with each other. It’s important to know how to keep things moving without conflict. Our crew is kind of like the SNL cast in that we have some temporary crews and then other employees who have been around for a long time; we’ve worked well and stayed together for several years, morphing how we work together over time.

Barista Greg’s “Great Egg” Answers:

Favorite breakfast? The Crepes Cena at eggtc.

I go to eggtc. when…? Pretty much every day. I mean, I work there, so basically every day except Thursdays.

I like my eggs…? Over easy

Waffles or pancakes? Waffles

For work I: bartend and barista at eggtc. I serve customers who sit at the bar, I work the phones, and I often help with carry out orders; I’m also a manager. Sometimes I spend time cooking in kitchen, but the most enjoyable part of my job is dealing with customers at the bar.

But what I’d really like to do is: My dream job would be a volunteer job – so I don’t have to work for a living. No, that’s a joke. Really though, when I heard that people volunteer to rock babies in neonatal care units, I knew that someday, whenever I have time to volunteer, that’s what I’ll do. My son was born prematurely so I wouldn’t mind going back to that environment and helping those people.

I tell people my favorite movie is: The Godfather Part 2.

But it’s actually: It’s really a movie no one knows which is why I tell people it’s The Godfather Part 2, but my favorite movie is actually The Remains of the Day.

I like my coffee: Very, very strong and black.

TV guilty pleasure: So this is kind of funny but my answer is no tv at all; I don’t watch tv but I do watch an occasional show. My favorite show of all time is M*A*S*H!

Hometown: Kansas City.

Neighborhood: I’ve lived in South KC my whole life.

I go to breakfast with: So, I used to enjoy going with my dad, but he actually passed away a few years ago.

My dream breakfast companion is…? Simon LeBon, singer of Duran Duran.

Favorite eggtc. server: So, Gabby is my work wife; we have a running joke at eggtc. that we get married every shift start and then get divorced at every shift end.

Nobody knows I… used to sing operatically; but yeah, I did.

Why eggtc.? It’s just a great place – both to work and to eat at. The low turnover and the highly functional work family all begins with Eyad, so I can only be really grateful.


Thanks, Greg, for being our very own Great Egg! We appreciate all your hard work and your friendships with customers and coworkers alike!