Fireaway Pizza eyes expansion up north

Fireaway Pizza is looking to open a further 40 stores in 2023 plus four international sites.

Managing director Mario Aleppo, who opened the first outlet in 2016, told MCA the fresh pizza concept currently had 28 confirmed sites in the pipeline and was now lasered on “secondary non-prime locations” such as side streets, as opposed to “high rent high street stores”.

As part of its expansion plans, the brand will also focus “more up north as most of our stores are currently in the south”, Aleppo said, with locations including Yorkshire and Newcastle on the list.

The company, which produces authentic handmade pizza using a recipe inspired by Aleppo’s Italian grandmother, opened 50 stores in 2021 and 41 stores in 2022.

It recently secured new investment from six backers – two private angel investors, two franchisees and two suppliers (1% each at £187,000.)

“Our UK expansion is already rapidly on track, so it [the financing] will help improve the existing stores with aggressive marketing and improvement to our tech side of the business,” Aleppo said.

“It will help speed up our international expansion by enabling us to set up strong teams in countries such as India, Canada & the Middle East.”

Fireaway has a couple of company-owned flagship stores, but has partnered with experienced franchisees “to help with the rapid expansion”.

The concept aims to distinguish itself from its competitors by serving “restaurant standard pizza as opposed to just another pizza takeaway”, Aleppo said.

In light of the cost-of-living crisis, the brand has also increased its family offers and “pricing to help as much as possible,” he added.