In June 2026, Santo Collection named Vaios Koukoumtzis executive chef of its three hotels in Oia, on Santorini. He now oversees every restaurant the collection runs on the island. He came to the post with more than 30 years in professional kitchens, 20 of them inside the Metaxa Hospitality Group. The family company owns the collection and has worked in hospitality since 1975.
The chef
Koukoumtzis comes from Karditsa, on the Thessalian plain. He took his diploma in culinary arts at the Alexander Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki. Since then he has worked almost entirely in resort kitchens, above all in Crete. He was executive chef at Creta Maris Resort and at Candia Maris Resort & Spa, and held senior posts at other hotels of the same group on the island. He has travelled to study other kitchens and to refine his fine-dining technique, including a spell at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, Wales.
His long service matters here. He has cooked inside this group for 20 years, and the Santorini kitchens are the newest posts in a career built within one company.
He describes his method briefly. “Every ingredient has value,” he has said. “From the stems of herbs to the peels of vegetables, our goal is always to honour each element with creativity and respect for the land that offers it.”
The kitchens
The collection has three hotels, all in Oia: Santo Pure Oia Suites & Villas, Santo Mine Oia Suites, and The Villas by Santo Collection. All three opened for the 2026 season in April, and the restaurants Koukoumtzis now oversees opened with them.
At Santo Pure the restaurant is Alios Ilios Restaurant & Bar, which serves all day under head chef Giorgos Zalokostas. At Santo Mine it is Ālme, under head chef Dimitris Choustoulakis. The name comes from the Greek άλμη, which means brine, and the cooking follows it: the catch of the day and Aegean recipes, with the sea in the seasoning as well as in the view. Ālme serves from 12.30pm to 10.30pm, with last orders at 10pm. Beside it are Rhoē Wine Bar & More and a wine cellar.
So two head chefs now work under one executive chef across the three hotels.
The menus
The 2026 menus are Greek and local. At Alios Ilios there are tomato fritters with a Greek cheese mousse and fresh herbs. At Ālme there is grilled octopus on a purée of Santorini fava, the island’s yellow split peas. Both are familiar island dishes, chosen on purpose.
Behind the menus is a supply chain the collection has built for itself. Its kitchens use organic gardens that the hotels farm, and producers on Santorini, across the Cyclades and in Crete. Food waste is composted. Dried fruit left over at Alios Ilios and Ālme is baked into biscuits. Here the farm-to-table claim comes with the details that support it.
What it changes
In Oia, a view of the caldera, the sea-filled crater of the old volcano, has long been enough to carry a restaurant. At Santo Collection the change is in who runs the kitchens. A chef with 30 years in the trade, 20 of them in this group, now answers for every restaurant in the collection, from the April opening to the end of the season.
Who is this for
Santo Collection suits a guest who takes a suite or villa in Oia for a week and often eats where they sleep. Tables stand on colonnaded terraces that face the caldera cliffs or the open sea, one of them beside an infinity pool. At dusk, brass floor lamps light a covered terrace of dark tables and woven chairs against a volcanic stone wall. The wine cellar is cut into the volcanic rock, and guests can book wine tastings and order cocktails made without added sugar.
