La Piadineria lands in New York. More than 500 locations active by the end of the year

"Have you thought any more about that project to export piadina romagnola? Shall we do it after graduation?" It seemed like a bizarre idea in 1994 when Samuele Bersani sang like that in his 'Freak', but in the meantime, Made in Italy has made giant strides on international food markets and nowLa Piadineria, after consolidating its presence in France, announces to Food24 that it will land in New York between December and January.

"It will by no means be a spot operation, but the first step in a pilot phase that includes the opening of a group of restaurants in targeted locations (there could be twenty or so, ed.) to fine-tune the offer for the US market, for example to understand which ingredients and formats are the most recognisable and appreciated. To then plan an acceleration like the one we are doing in France, towards a more extensive and structured presence,' assures CEO Andrea Valota. The goal is to become 'a global brand'.

The company controlled by Cvc Capital Partners (which took it over from Permira in early 2024) has decided to move from France directly to the States. "This is not to say that we won't also expand in Europe, but the US is an important test bed and in a way establishing ourselves overseas means we can do it anywhere," Valota continues.

The foreign debut there was already in 2017 in Nice and then Marseille (cities that are 'closer' and frequented by Italians), then the development plan beyond the Alps, after the slowdown caused by Covid, resumed systematically from 2022 and today there are nine restaurants active, five of which are in Paris. Now the change of pace is just around the corner: 'We will soon open over 15 new locations in France,' Valota announces, 'and some eighty openings are planned over the next five years.

Andrea Valota, ceo de La Piadineria

"As in Italy, we also chose direct management abroad, at least in the initial phase. This allows accurate control of the operational phases and brand positioning, with a quick ability to adapt. Our experience in France confirmed that with the right communication and a good local fine-tuning on certain factors, even a product as unknown abroad as the piadina can establish itself quickly. La Piadineria's strength is also that of having started from the outset with the idea of building a scalable project, which allows us to think in terms of a chain and not a single flagship. In this strategy, the support of the funds was fundamental,' explains Valota.