£273,510 raised of £500,000 target
for 30.00% equity offered
101 investors so far.
Last investment:
Largest: £100,000
We at PizzaLuxe are committed to delivering the very best pizzas that we can; using the freshest ingredients, yet at affordable prices. From our humble beginnings selling Pizza from a market stall in London’s vibrant Brick Lane, we have evolved into a multi-site business with big plans for the future. Our aim has always been simple and still remains at the heart of what we do everyday; deluxe pizzas without the deluxe prices. We offer a creative execution of the classics in a stylish environment, served with a warmth and generosity of spirit.
All of our pizzas are made with fine flour, fresh yeast and slow-proven dough. We endeavour to source our toppings from small artisian suppliers and add plenty of care and attention. Our product and presentation is designed to marks us out as being both independent and creative. Not only do we pride ourselves on our pizza, but also our passionate, personable team who care about our product as much as we do. PizzaLuxe is all about people. We believe our people are fundamental in driving our business forwards and securing its success. We pride ourselves on an approach that is at once friendly, yet markedly different and enthusiastic.
Our History
The idea for PizzaLuxe was first born back in 2010 from a desire to see how good we could make our own pizza. It took Laura 8 months to find the right market to sell her much loved pizza, we finally found the spot on a site in Brick lane. With the confidence taken from the first site, we were approached by Westfield about opening a permanent site in spring 2011. Building work started late Summer 2011 and after a few weeks of barely any sleep we finally opened our doors for trading on 6th October 2011.
Pizzaluxe Westfield Stratford city is located at the chestnut Plaza, a cluster of restaurants within the lifestyle street. The restaurant was on the main route through to the 2012 Olympic Park and originally measured 824 sq. ft. gross, with an 40 cover external terrace. We felt early on that we needed to expand to meet the demands of ourbusiness, so, less than a year later we developed plans to convert the existing space to include another floor.
Shortly after celebrating our one-year anniversary at Westfield we opened our second site at Trinity Kitchen Leeds, some 200 miles away from the original Westfield Store.
Now, we have gone back to our roots and have completed on our third site in the heart of Shoreditch. We are due to open this flagship store in Spring 2015. We are also planning on renovating the existing site at Westfield and are due to begin works in March 2015.
Retail Opportunities
We believe that Pizzaluxe is ideally suited to non-traditional travel-hub and mall/retail environments. This is largely due to centralized production potential and no requirement for store mechanical extract. This combined with small footprint (circa 100- 150 sq. ft.) and low capital intensity could provide for a significant Take & Bake and/or Heat & serve business with up to 50 openings per year over 3 years 2015-2017.
The thin-crust, slow-proven dough combined with distinctive gourmet toppings and striking packaging are designed to deliver a product with impactful visual merchandising within the pizza category of a supermarket/food store retail range. Charlie Bigham has created a £20m business from elevating the “ordinary” of chilled prepared meals to something more considered.
We believe that the same opportunity presently exists within the UK pizza category. The same product could be offered hot in environments such as airports and train stations, where low impact ovens could regenerate these pre-packed products, as was originally achieved in the Brick lane market stall where Pizzaluxe originated back in 2010.
Use of Funds
£500k of investment will provide for two new openings during 2015, which will be targeted in Shoreditch (opening Spring 15) and a Central London food destination (h215). Subject to the introduction of debt to the business post-fundraising, further core store openings are shown in the financial projections to take the estate to 12 units in 5 years. The reinvestment in an extended, refurbished Westfield Stratford store with a new 5-year lease will also be taken from these funds at the start of the capex cycle in H1 2015.
The PizzaLuxe restaurant business will be developed to the extent that the estate reflects locations synonymous with the cutting edge of contemporary food retailing in the UK – Westfield, Trinity Kitchen, and Shoreditch etc. The core estate will be profitable and provide a solid platform for complimentary activity, however the goal of the Founders is not, in the first instance, to build a large group of restaurants in the traditional “pizzeria” model.
Ultimately, it is possible that the majority of the brand value of PizzaLuxe will not originate solely from the earnings of these sites. Management believes that the aspirational brand ethos of these locations could drive a significant retail business benefitting from the “halo effect” of these core estate venues.
The Investment
The total investment we are seeking through the crowd cube equity placing is £500,000. We envisage bringing matched debt into the business at a corresponding level. Beyond this, further debt and some asset finance will be additionally secured as stores are opened.
The model therefore shows a total of £1.5m being derived from these combined sources of equity and debt. These monies will be used to fund the growth of the business to five core stores by the end of 2015. The model assumes an investor exiting or refinancing in 5 years’ time, investors are forecast to achieve a multiple return of x25 on original investment.
The UK pizza market is worth over £1.85bn per annum, and expected to grow a further 22% by 2016.
We believe that this cuisine holds appeal to both operator and customer alike; being both accessible and affordable yet high margin and from our experience easily replicated with a relatively unskilled workforce. In the past few years, a host of pizza start-ups have brought serious competition to the established names, adding a new dimension to a scene that used to be dominated by family-friendly casual-dining chains. There is a precident for acquisitions in the space, with Pizza Hut recently being the subject of take-over speculation, before finally being acquired by Rutland Partners.
We believe Pizza express has now clearly demonstrated the strength of the positive enduring sentiment surrounding the pizza category, with a £900m acquisition by (July 14).
Pizzaluxe is a long standing entrant in what we see at the ‘New Entrant Market’ (opened October 2011), other players are Pizza Union and Pizza Pilgrims (opened march 12), along with pizza-by-the-slice operators Home slice and Voodoo ray’s. This emerging trend was the feature story of The Caterer in October 2014, with PizzaLuxe taking the cover photo and a large part of the article.
Target Market
PizzaLuxe strives to offer a creative execution of the classics that people love, in a friendly and stylish environment. Both of our sites are based in high-footfall retail locations, which lend themselves to a wide spectrum of customers. We have designed our sites in a way where the kitchen prep and production areas are on show, and our ingredients are proudly displayed on a four metre-long bank of crushed ice for all to see. PizzaLuxe takes an honest and open approach to our business.
We belive the success of PizzaLuxe is driven by our loyal customers, premium products and a dedicated team. Anyone and everyone is welcome at PizzaLuxe, we have strived to make a product is that is a staple classics that everyone loves, with an unusual twist. PizzaLuxe is open seven days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner. So, whether it be a quick breakfast for the eager shopper, a long, late lunch for families or even a last minute cocktail with friends – we are designed to offer something for everyone.
Paul Goodale – Co-Founder
Paul is a Restaurateur with 20 years of sector specific experience within quality operations. Paul has operated across the full spectrum of the hospitality industry from 5* hotels and Private Members Clubs to gastro-pubs and self-service food courts. Paul is presently managing director of Epicurean Holdings, a consultancy practise that he founded in 2009. Paul was latterly Director of Restaurants and Kitchens at Harrods.
Paul is one of only a handful of restaurateurs, along with such luminaries as Jason Atherton, to have won both Rising Star “Acorn” awards and CATEY gongs from the industry journal Caterer & Hotelkeeper. He is now on the judging panel of these awards, an honour bestowed on only the UK’s leading hospitality professionals.
Laura Pabon – Co-Founder
Laura has previously held managment positions at numerous London restaurants, including Maze Bar and Grill and Zuma. Laura is an experienced GM and prides herself in customer service delivery for high-class restaurant and bar operations. Laura is a business-focused manager with man-management ability and the highest standards of operational training and delivery.
Laura is a “hands-on” operator and we feel this has paid dividends, as evidenced by the tight operating controls in the early years of PizzaLuxe.
The PizzaLuxe Family
We like to take a ‘family-run’ approach to our business and as a ‘thank-you’ from us we would like to offer every investor (who invests £500 or more), unlimited use of his or her PizzaLuxe Investor Club Discount Card. Every time you dine with us you will receive 25% off your total food bill – so you can eat as much pizza as we do!
For those investing £5,000 and above, not only will you receive the PizzaLuxe investor club discount card, but also membership to our monthly Mystery Diner Club. We love getting feedback from the people we value the most, our customers. The club works by you receiving a complimentary meal up to the value of £30 when you visit any of our sites. All we ask is that you visit incognito and complete a feedback form as part of this, so we can get the most out of the programme. You can also transfer or gift your mystery diner privileges to a friend or family member.
Lastly, if you are choose to invest £10,000 or more you will be entitled to a free pizza and pint every month in addition to the other benefits. This will be reflected in your exclusive black investor Club Discount Card. Another little thank-you from us.
SALES:
USE OF FUNDS:
EXPENSES AND PROFITABILITY:
EXISTING DEBT OR EQUITY INVESTMENTS: Please outline the background to any existing debt or equity finance on the company balance sheet
CASH: Cash burn rate, Operational cashflow, when will you need to raise the next round?
The business plan presented for consideration shows how the proceeds of this fund-raising will be matched with debt introduced to the business to enable the growth of the estate by 10 stores over the next five years. Management envisage a potential exit for investors either during, or at the end of, this five-year. This will be subject to the delivery of financial targets and will be achieved either through re-financing or, alternatively, a trade sale exit.
The business will never be operated as a lifestyle vehicle.
The model assumes an investor exiting or refinancing in 5 years’ time, investors are forecast to achieve a multiple return of x8 on original investment.
The idea for PizzaLuxe was first born back in 2010 from a desire to see how good we could make our own pizza.