A restaurant investment company has conditionally agreed to buy the Franco Manca pizza chain for £27.5million.
The chain was founded in Brixton’s Market Row by Giuseppe Mascoli in 2008. It has since expanded to ten restaurants in London.
In 2010, the owners joined up with Rocca Ltd. Fulham Shore PLC, which invests in restaurants, has now conditionally agreed to acquire 99% of the issued share capital of Rocca. Stockmarket Wire reported this morning that the company is paying approximately £27.5m, with £6.2 million in cash and the rest by issuing shares for the company.
The move cements Fulham Shore’s presence in the Brixton food scene. It claims to have investments in Bukowski, Wishbone Brixton, Chillbox and It also owns shares in The Real Greek, MEATLiquor and the Bombay Bicycle Club.
Franco Manca is an enormously popular restaurant in Brixton – we profiled Giuseppe Mascoli here.
Today Mascoli said that he will still be involved in the business and that Fulham Shore intend to keep the restaurants as they are. “I am very happy with how things have turned out,” he said. “It is an experiment but we will still be involved, so we will see.”
“Now we have the opportunity to recover what has been lost along the way with pizzerias in England. They had been completely degenerated by the catering industry, but we are bringing back wood ovens, sour dough, all these kinds of things. What has happened is a good thing.”
We’d love to hear our readers thoughts on the news.
I’m puzzled by the claim that he founded Franco’s in 2008 – it has been in the same lefthand unit (as you come into the arcade) since the 1980s. At one point I think it was owned by the people who set up Eco in Clapham.A waiter who has been there since the 80s is still there – would be great to profile him.
I completely agree with you. I remember Eco in Clapham from the late nineties – Is it still there? It was not long ago… I vaguely remember the link to Franco Manca. 2008? Seems very recent.
Great idea to profile the waiter! a very good suggestion
Hi both — before Franco Manca, Francos was a pizzeria in the market but the two aren’t connected except I believe when Giuseppe first opened FM he teamed up with the owner of Ecos in Clapham, who I think (though would need to check) had something to do with Francos in its latter days. Other than that though, it’s not the same business and the pizzas were very different. See article here http://www.bighospitality.co.uk/Interviews/Business-Profile/Business-Profile-Franco-Manca. We loved Francos back in the day though ! Thanks for the tip on the waiter Catriona. Best Zoe
I could be wrong, but I dare say next stop portion control, cheaper ingredients and inflated prices. If I wanted to go to pizza hut I would. If it was my restaurant I’d probably do the same, but as a consumer it ALWAYS sucks – just one more indie trading a fast payout for blandness.
They use already cheaper ingredients than 2 years ago. it started happening a while ago. It is a business….