Founded in 1965 by Peter Boizot, PizzaExpress opened its first restaurant in London’s Wardour Street. Inspired by a trip to Italy, Boizot brought back to London a pizza oven from Naples and a chef from Sicily.[5] It was announced in 2020 that the Wardour Street branch would shut, and the site has since closed.[6][7]
In 1969, jazz performances began at its Dean Street restaurant, London.[8]
PizzaExpress expanded into the Republic of Ireland in 1995 and currently operates 14 restaurants there under the brand name Milano.[9] Additionally, the company owns the brand name Marzano. Originally Marzano was used in countries where the brand name Pizza Express was not available, as with the use of the name Milano in the Republic of Ireland, but it also exists in some territories, such as Cyprus, to differentiate between the restaurants selling primarily pizza and those offering a wider range of non-pizza meals inspired by Italian cuisine.[10] It is also used for a cafe-bar run as an adjunct to the branch of Pizza Express in The Forum in Norwich, “Cafe Bar Marzano”.[11]
In 2011, PizzaExpress launched a major rebrand of its UK restaurants, with menu changes, a black and white logo and the widespread use of stripes, both for staff uniforms and for restaurant decor.[12]
In July 2014, the group was sold to the China-based private equity firm Hony Capital in a deal worth £900 million.[13] In 2017, PizzaExpress launched ‘PizzaExpress Live’.[citation needed]
In October 2019, PizzaExpress hired financial advisors in preparation for its talks with creditors. The chain had been experiencing financial difficulties arising from a downturn in consumer demand for eating out.[14]
In March 2020, all UK restaurants were forced to close indefinitely due to nationwide lockdown rules introduced by the government to limit the spread of COVID-19. On 28 May 2020, select London restaurants reopened for delivery services as the government began to lift lockdown restrictions.[15][16] In July, it was announced that “dozens” of the closed restaurants would not be reopening. The restaurant group was reported to have a debt pile of £1.1 billion.[17] The next month, it was announced that the company was set to close around 67 restaurants throughout the UK and also cut 1,100 jobs.[18]
In July 2020, the business was taken over by its bondholders under a debt-for-equity swap with previous owner Hony Capital.[19] It was confirmed in September that 73 of its restaurants would close permanently, including the first ever branch in Wardour Street.[7] In November 2020, the group restructure completed and helped cut the casual dining chain’s debt by more than £400 million.[20] A further 23 branches were earmarked for closure in January 2021.[21]