Member Article

Sourdough pizza chain plots 13 new openings including first Italian outpost

UK pizza brand Franco Manca is to continue its prolific openings streak after the company’s owners, The Fulham Shore, revealed that the chain is on course to open 12 new restaurants this year along with a particularly eye-catching new venue in its culinary heartland.

According to the restaurant group’s trading update this morning, Franco Manca is to open its first non-UK site in Italy this year as the homegrown sourdough pizza restaurant sets up shop on the island of Salina, north of Sicily.

In a sign of confidence from the burgeoning brand, which currently boasts 32 restaurants across the South East and London, Franco Manca is banking on its first franchised outlet to help it break into the Italian market, where it said it would source the best ingredients from UK and Italian producers.

Its Salina restaurant is to be opened later this year by Franco Manca founder, Giuseppe Mascoli, with the brand investing around £100,000 in funding raised from ‘local and international’ investors.

The pizza brand’s operator also said that they hope to swell its ranks to 45 pizzerias by the end of this financial year, complemented by up to 12 outlets of The Real Greet and the sole Bukowski Grill site which Fulham Shore also operates.