The French-founded Italian group has secured a site in Juno Beach, South Florida, which it will open as part of a 50/50 partnership with Chicago-based group Ballyhoo Hospitality.
Big Mamma will also collaborate with Florida restaurateur Carmine Giardini, founder of Carmine’s Gourmet Market & La Trattoria, a Palm Beach institution that has operated for 38 years, for the opening.
No name has been revealed for the restaurant yet but it will continue Big Mamma’s approach of serving produce sourced directly from more than 200 family-run Italian suppliers, including 24-month aged Prosciutto di Parma DOP from Paolo and Gianfranco Leoncini, and fresh mozzarella from Salvatore Corso in Napoli.
Big Mamma has made no secret of its plans to cross the pond. Last year co-founder Tigrane Seydoux told Restaurant that the US ‘was very much on the group’s radar’ and that the company had spent a lot of time looking at different states and cities such as Florida, Chicago, New York, and Texas, with Florida the most likely debut city.
Seydoux, who launched Big Mamma with Victor Lugger in 2015 in Paris, has relocated to South Florida to oversee the launch.
“I’ve seen first hand how going the extra mile can shape the trajectory of a business,” he says. “When we opened Bel Mondo and Circolo Popolare in Madrid, I moved there to oversee the launch.
“Now, as we bring Big Mamma to the US, I’ve relocated to South Florida with my wife and my three kids. This isn’t simply an expansion — it’s a change of life and a unique opportunity to share our unique approach to Italian hospitality with a new audience.”
Continued expansion
Earlier this week Big Mamma reported turnover of £56.2m for the year ended 31 December 2025, up 27% on the 2024 total of £44.3m, amid ‘high demand’ across its growing UK restaurant estate. It also said that it was going to continue to expand in the UK.
The group has eight restaurants in the UK - six in London and one each in Birmingham and Manchester - and operates a growing global portfolio of more than 30 restaurants.
“We didn’t build Big Mamma to open restaurants,” Seydoux adds. “We built it to change lives, those of our teams, because a full restaurant is one where people want to work.
“When your team is genuinely happy, guests feel it the moment they walk in — it’s an energy that spreads, it’s contagious. The food has to be exceptional - that’s the foundation - but what people remember is the feeling. That’s what we’re bringing to Florida.”
