Zia Lucia is looking to pivot to prime, city centre locations as it expands outside of London, in a move away from its neighbourhood base within the capital, co-founder Gianluca D’Angelo tells MCA.
The independent pizzeria group, which is to open its 11th site in West Hampstead later this month, recently appointed advisor Savills as it looks to double the estate over the next three years.
Ahead of its national rollout, it has also strengthened its management team with the appointment of Colin Doyle as managing director, who joins from his previous role as operations director and interim MD at The Breakfast Club.
“We might go a bit more prime, possibly city centre sites outside London,” D’Angelo says. “In places like Oxford, Cambridge, Reading, and Bath, we want to catch a bit more footfall since we’re not as well known as we are within London.
“Colin is a big hire and an important step for us as we continue structuring and evolving the business vis-à-vis the growth plan.”
The initial focus will be on the South, East, and Southwest of the UK, with the business identifying clusters of three to four cities each to optimise operations.
Its current estate in London is continuing to trade well as neighbourhoods have maintained their post-pandemic surge.
“We save money on rent without super central locations, but still get high footfall due to work from home,” D’Angelo adds. “We’ve found ourselves in a good spot since Covid.”
Zia Lucia has not been immune to cost inflation but has been able to mitigate where possible, with proactive supply chain and menu engineering, according to him.
“We’re constantly making sure each ingredient has a reason to exist on the menu at that price point. What made sense 15 months ago might not make sense now.”
Alongside optimising supply, the business has also hedged its energy contracts, which has helped with utility bills.
While staffing is less of a struggle than it was a year ago, Zia Lucia has continued to pay above minimum wage and absorb the hit to its margins.
“We need the right people to ensure quality control as we scale…we’re willing to lose 2-3% on margins to make sure things stay the same quality.”
The offer will continue to be based around signature pizzas and four types of dough, with a limited edition dough newly introduced to kick off each new launch.
The West Hampstead venue will offer cricket-based dough for a limited time after opening.
“We’ve done things like moringa and beetroot dough before,” D’Angelo says. “Cricket-based dough is expensive but sustainable and requires much less water per kilo.
“The pizza purist might not go for it, but we want to be ahead of the curve and we’re looking forward to seeing how the market reacts.”
Overall, Zia Lucia has been fortunate in holding a “tight ship” and trading well despite “costs going through the roof.”
“Delivery has increased as a proportion of sales so even our old estate is continuing to grow year-on-year.
“We have no debt, so that gives us a lot of flexibility. We’re also looking to make more senior appointments as the business grows and becomes more complex in our next stage of growth.”
