Pizza Express owner cheered by busy Christmas

The owner of restaurant chain Pizza Express today said a “particularly strong” Christmas had kept it on course for results in line with expectations.

Gondola Holdings, which also owns the Ask and Zizzi restaurant chains, said like-for-like sales were up 5.2% in the eight weeks to January 8 compared with last year.

Gondola has more than 500 restaurants including 314 Pizza Express outlets and 109 Ask sites. It employs around 10,000 staff and serves some 30 million meals a year.

Pizza Express's sister company Milano operates six outlets in Ireland - three in Dublin and one each on Cork, Limerick and Galway.

The upturn boosted Gondola’s first half, with like-for-like sales up 4% over the 28-week period.

Chief financial officer Chris Heath said the company was “delighted” with the performance.

He added: “Whilst we continue to face challenging comparatives in the second half, we remain confident that the results for the full year will be in line with expectations.”

Total sales were up 8.2% over the Christmas and New Year period while the figure improved 6.9% in the first half as Gondola continued to expand its business. The company said profit margins were on target.

So far this financial year, it has opened seven new restaurants and has six more on the way, leaving it poised to meet its target of opening 20 to 25 outlets this year.

In a trading update today, the company said: “Gondola believes that there is scope for at least another 300 of its three core brands in the UK and Ireland and intends to open about 20 to 25 new restaurants this year, rising to 25 to 30 new restaurants per year from then onwards.”

Shares in Gondola have climbed 11% since it went public on November 3.

The group traces its roots back to 1948 when founder Peter Boizot tasted his first pizza in Florence and decided to recreate the experience in London.

The first Pizza Express oven was brought from Rome and was set up in the company’s first restaurant in the capital’s Soho area.

Ask opened its first restaurant in 1993 and then set up Zizzi in 1999, offering a more upmarket range of pasta and pizzas.