Original Perry's was founded in 1968 by Perry and Sophia Potiris. Perry had a life long history in the restaurant business, starting as a young boy working in his family restaurants in Iowa. Perry graduated from University of Iowa and enlisted in the US Navy serving as a Medical Corpsman aboard a troop ship in WW2. Stationed in San Francisco, it was here that he met the love of his life, Sophia. Perry and Sophia were married and moved back to his native Iowa to help with the family business. In the early 50's Perry and Sophia moved to Sacramento to raise their growing family that would include two Daughters and one Son. In 1968 Perry and Sophia, opened Trukadero, ARCO's first of a nation wide chain of Truckstop Coffee Shops.