Growth at food franchise Rozzi’s includes new store options

Sarah Stowe

Inside Franchise Business: fresh salads are part of the daytime offer at Rozzi's Fresh KitchenCasual dining chain Rozzi’s plans up to six further outlet openings this year, bringing the network total to 15 by the end of 2017. And there’s a new model on board too.

The existing larger footprint Rozzi’s Italian Canteen will be joined by a new brand, Rozzi’s Fresh Kitchen, which will be focused on delivering fresh Italian food in a speedier setting.

Founder Dean Salamone told Inside Franchise Business, “We identified a need for a daytime offer that’s really fresh.”

Salamone said producing meals across all three times of day (breakfast, lunch and dinner)  is very difficult to do in a single venue.

The a la carte breakfast and daytime offer will have a strong focus on fresh product produced and prepared daily onsite: pizzas, (and the dough) Rozzis Rockets (a twist on the traditional calzone), salads, pastas and coffees.

“We are also trialling making our own bread onsite too with a view to releasing this to the network in the future.”

Another model could be released to market tool if trials for an express model prove successful.

The express will serve pizza and pasta and include a display fridge for salads. Express models may operate on a footprint as small as a 40m kiosk.

Shrinking the size of outlets for the new models will not limit the theatricality of the brand’s offer however, with dough still being made in front of customers, Salamone said.

“The food court customer is expecting value and speed of service. There’s been a skew for Asian food but less pasta and pizza [in the market],” he pointed out. “We work on the theory of being a pioneer in this space.”