New York Pizza opened its first Belgian restaurant in Leuven yesterday. The rapidly growing Dutch chain wants to open ten branches in Flanders next year.
Big ambitions
The new business in the university town is located on the Naamsestraat. It is the first branch of a whole series in Flanders, because from next year New York Pizza also wants to conquer the rest of Flanders (and Belgium). “We are crossing national borders with the opening of a branch in Leuven, and with this we are taking the first step in our growth ambitions. The plans for Belgium are ambitious. We want to move towards ten branches in Flanders in 2021,” says CEO and founder Philippe Vorst in newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws. By 2023 the top executive wants to have 300 restaurants in the Netherlands and Belgium. Today the chain has around 220 branches.
New York Pizza was founded in Amsterdam in 1993. From 1996 the company started to focus more and more on pizza delivery. This year the chain sold 11.5 million pizzas. According to the CEO, the success is mainly due to the fresh and natural ingredients. “Our pizzas are characterised by the use of fresh ingredients and the freshly baked bottoms of high and consistent quality. We use a special recipe with our own dough”. Frost emphasizes that no artificial colours and flavours are used in the products.
