Franco Manca continues to expand, securing first Scottish site
The 42-strong group, which is approaching its 10th anniversary, is understood to have secured a site just off the St Andrew’s Square development in Edinburgh.
Earlier this year, the group, led by The Fulham Shore chairman David Page, opened an outlet on the tiny island of Salina, north of Sicily, training up Italian pizza-makers with the aim of bringing them to work at UK restaurants.
Other recent openings for the group include London locations of King’s Cross, and adjacent to the One Tower Bridge development, and regional sites of Cambridge and Bristol.
This summer the company said that given an increased availability of sites for sale due to the pressures on other restaurant operators, it had decided to rethink its schedule for openings, seeking to improve terms with landlords of new sites it had already identified.
It said that this might delay some of its openings to later in its financial year.
Franco Manca was founded by Giuseppe Mascoli in 2008.
He sold the business to Fulham Shore in 2015 for £27.5m, taking a 5% share of the restaurant group.
Despite the group’s rapid expansion, owner Page, who made his name backing PizzaExpress and Gourmet Burger Kitchen, says the expansion will not jeopardise quality.
The UK’s new wave of pizzerias are rapidly expanding, with independents such as Homeslice, Pizza Pilgrims, Yard Sale and Radio Alice growing regionally as well as across the capital.
