Local pizza brand Pezzo debuts in the Middle East

SINGAPORE — Proving why pizza is one of the most loved foods almost anywhere in the world, homegrown brand Pezzo Pizza (Pezzo) this week unveiled its first outlet in Saudi Arabia at the Al Hokair Group’s Mall of Arabia in Jeddah. The opening marks the start of their collaboration, which includes plans by the group to launch and operate Pezzo outlets across Saudi Arabia.

Located within Sparky’s Family Entertainment Centre, the outlet at Mall of Arabia will boasts seating for customers looking to grab a quick meal. “Our strategy is to tap on the customer base of Sparky’s entertainment centres,” said Pezzo co-Founder Chiang Zhan Xiang. Confident about the country’s growing penchant for Western foods, pointing out how all the major pizza players in the country are successful businesses, he added that the population in Saudi Arabia is also very young, with 47 per cent below 24 years old, while “their daily lives revolve around food, entertainment and shopping in malls”.

“To date, Al Hokair Group has entertainment centres in more than 70 locations, including 54 Sparky’s branches,” Chiang explained. “Pezzo will be setting up base in three regions of Saudi Arabia: west, central and east. From there, we hope to expand our operations as rapidly as possible.”

Founded as a niche quick service restaurant that purveys pizzas by the slices, the brand has seen rapid growth since its inception in 2012. To date, it has 28 outlets in Singapore, with plans in the pipeline to expand to 35 outlets. It also aims to reach Asia’s geographical masses with a target of 300 outlets by 2019. “Since we embarked on regional franchising and licensing in late 2014, we have successfully expanded into Malaysia, Philippines, Myanmar, Thailand and China,” he shared, but added that “we are still learning more about our business model and constantly refining it to suit the different business climate”.