PizzaExpress has made the biggest ever change to its menu with a range of dishes created especially for lunchtime.
The new menu, which includes for the first for the brand soups and Piadinas, is to be trialled in just over 100 restaurants across the country from today.
All items are available to eat in or take away from Monday to Friday and main dishes range from £3.45 to just £5.95.
The company said that the new menu has been designed to give “busy people an excuse to escape for a quick and inexpensive lunch”.
Piadinas are bread pockets that are made using PizzaExpress’ dough, baked with Gran Moravia and filled with fresh ingredients. Two flavours of soup are also being introduced and served with warm bread made from PizzaExpress’ dough.
Lunchtime sized portions of PizzaExpress’ most popular salads are also being added to the menu including the Leggera superfood salad, which is gluten-free and contains just 256 calories. For pizza-lovers looking for a lighter choice, eight Romanita pizzas have been created – smaller versions of PizzaExpress’ Romana range of thin and crispy pizzas. Also featured are mini side dishes, including half portions of dough balls, rosemary infused polenta chips and coleslaw.
Rebecca Farrer, brand director at PizzaExpress said: “It’s easy to feel like you can’t escape for lunch on a busy day but taking time out allows you to push the reset button so you can tackle the afternoon head on. Two big considerations at lunchtime are speed and value. Our new lunch menu has been created so people don’t have to resign themselves to the same sandwich every day or only treat themselves on a Friday – they can get great value, handmade food throughout the week.”
The company has also launched a new menu for spring, which features 10 new dishes including a wider range of its low-calorie Leggera dishes that all contain fewer than 500 calories. There are also four new gluten-free options and a cheese-free pizza that is suitable for vegans.
The new dishes include a Leggera Panzanella starter at £5.20; a Pollo Forza Romana, which takes its inspiration from the barbecue season at - £12.45; and a Leggera Sorbet at - £4.65 (full size) or with coffee + £2 (Dolcetti).
Farrer said: “We’re constantly looking at food trends and have a fantastic collection of dishes this summer to suit all tastes. Variety is really important to our guests, whether they are counting calories, unable to eat gluten or simply want to try some fresh flavours.”
