Catering, Zuma's Japanese cuisine lands in Milan and accelerates opening in Italia

Sometimes to start a successful business you don't need detailed strategies, but an established friendship. This is how Zuma landed in Italia ten years ago: the chain founded in 2002 by chef Rainer Becker and entrepreneur Arjun Waney, famous for his contemporary interpretation of the Japanese izakaya formula, and with establishments in Europe, Asia and the United States, chose Rome as its first Italian opening because of the friendship that linked Pietro Beccari, then CEO of Fendi and now head of Louis Vuitton, to Waney.

"Beccari asked him to open a Zuma on the top floor of the Palazzo Fendi, which housed the new flagship and hospitality area. It is a formula that we often follow to understand the best places where to open a new restaurant: we listen to our customers' desires - says William Cristanelli, managing director UK & Europe of Zuma -. It was our tenth restaurant in the world, and we had an almost unexpected success, which led us to open in recent years also in Porto Cervo, Capri and Cortina d'Ampezzo, respectively inside the Cervo Tennis Club, Capri Palace Jumeirah and The First Hotel.

In 2027 we will also arrive in Milan, a venue we have been working on for two years and which will certainly be one of our most beautiful". Zuma Milano is expected in a hotel of the Luxury Collection of Marriott: "We have carefully chosen this space with very high ceilings and generous natural light coming from a beautiful window, and it will enhance Milan's link with design". And other locations are already being considered: 'Italia is the market where we grow the fastest, we think we will have more restaurants in the future. There is a lot of demand from our customers, who particularly love the quality of Italian service,' adds Cristanelli. 'Here, customers are treated with special care and empathy, I believe this is a characteristic of Italians, which differentiates and characterises them'.

Zuma, which now has 34 restaurants worldwide, is part of the British Azumi Group, which also owns the Roka, Etaru, Oblix at The Shard and Inko Nito brands, and closed 2024 (latest available data) with£203m (€235.3m) revenue.

After almost 25 years in the business, its growth is also fuelled by its ability to read the evolutions of the global market: 'After Covid, we have registered more and more interest in luxury experiences, in creating memories, special moments, which an object such as a watch or a handbag can hardly do,' the manager continues. 'Once again, following the indications and wishes of our customers, we are also starting to take care of private events, always in locations in line with our formula, such as a large park in Great Britain or a castle on the French Riviera.