San Carlo’s growth plans ‘uninterrupted by acquisition’

THE PURCHASE of Leeds restaurant Flying Pizza by Birmingham-based San Carlo will not derail the group’s ambitious expansion plans, according to joint owner Marcello Distefano.

The restaurant chain yesterday bought a well-know Leeds restaurant out of administration, in a deal that was both a hard-headed business decision, and a highly emotional one, Mr Distefano told TheBusinessDesk.com.

Mr Distefano, who runs the fast-expanding restaurant chain with his father Carlo, said the Flying Pizza meant a great deal to the family.

“I grew up there,” he said. “Flying Pizza was my first experience of the kind of restaurant that has fantastic food and a buzzing atmosphere. The whole family used to go there for Sunday dinners.”

“Everyone in Leeds remembers the glory days of the restaurant and for years, people have been saying to us it would be a perfect fit with the San Carlo brand.”

So when Flying Pizza called in the administrators last week, the Distefano family was already a more-than-interested party – but that didn’t cloud the hard-headed business approach that has driven San Carlo’s astonishing expansion in the UK and overseas over the past five years.

“We saw that fit very clearly,” said Mr Distefano, “and we also recognised the particular opportunity of moving into a suburban area such as Roundhay.”

“This is our first restaurant not in a city centre, but the suburbs are changing. Gone are the days when the pub was the place to go and socialise. People are now much more looking to the restaurant and bar as the place to go.”

And Mr Distefano is adamant that the sudden appearance in their empire of a major new project – they intend to give Flying Pizza a £1m refurbishement – won’t derail the group’s already ambitious expansion plans.

Mr Distefano said: “In the past four months we have opened the new San Carlo in Leeds as well as our new ‘Italian tapas’ concept Cicchetti based in the House of Fraser store in Manchester. All that is made possible because our expansion so far has been very carefully managed to ensure strong revenues and profits during the recession.”

He said the expansion programme would continue, with further Cicchetti restaurants in the pipeline, and a possible move into Scotland.

And he had words of reassurance to fans of the old Flying Pizza restaurant. “People say this is the end of an era,” he said, “but in my view Flying Pizza is an institution. All we’ll be trying to do is update it and bring the two great brands together.”

Funding for the Flying Pizza acquisition came from company resources, said Mr Distefano – although he refused to reveal the value of the deal.