New pizza concept for quayside as North East restaurant cooks up expansion plans

A North East pizza brand has announced that it is creating jobs with a new ‘grab and go’ waterside venue.

Scream For Pizza, which has sites in Sandyford and Hoult’s Yard, is opening up the new pizza and ice cream outlet in the centre of Newcastle’s Quayside.

The new venue comes as a result of a £40k investment from the North East Small Loan Fund, supported by the European Regional Development Fund and facilitated by fund management firm NEL Fund Managers.

The site, which is expected to create ten jobs when it opens in August, is part of the company’s plan to grow and diversify.

Victoria Featherby, co-founder and director, commented: “We’ve remained open and very busy right through the pandemic, and we’re ready now to get on with the next stage of our growth plans.

“The original idea behind the business – to use locally sourced, seasonal ingredients, great quality Italian artisanal products and traditional techniques to create pizza worth screaming for - has never changed, and remains the inspiration for the new Quayside restaurant.

“While it will have around ten seats, it’s very much based around the ‘grab and go’ concept, with the products on offer tailored to appeal to customers who are on the move or with limited time to find some food.

“There’s not a huge amount of competition on the Quayside for the sort of service we’ll be providing, which we think will really appeal to local office workers on their lunch breaks, people enjoying a night out on the Quayside and visitors to weekend markets and other city centre events.

“We think there are also lots of opportunities to grow the business by tweaking the Scream concept and rolling it out in different locations, and once the Quayside outlet is up and running, we’ll be looking at how we might put these ideas into practice.

“We know other local businesses in the food sector in which NEL has previously invested and got good advice from their investment team, as well as the incentive to make improvements to our financial structures and processes that will benefit us as the business grows.”

Jonathan Armitage, investment executive at NEL Fund Managers, added:“Scream For Pizza has built up a loyal fan base and a fantastic reputation for great food, and it’s exciting to be part of the next stages of development of such an exciting business.”