Via Pasteria is expanding with a centralised production centre and is preparing to launch new brands
The offering of this new concept, which has ambitious growth plans in Italia and abroad, is built around a concept that the founders describe as a ‘fast luxury restaurant’: order at the counter, table service, non-stop cooking from 12 noon to 10.30 pm, an average bill of around 22 euros, with no cover charge and no option to book
Key points
With four restaurants now open in Milan in the space of just a few years and a fifth in the pipeline, Via Pasteria is already setting its sights on the ambitious goal of rapid expansion in Italia and abroad. The bronze-die-cut fresh pasta chain – founded on 21 July 2022 with its first outlet in Via Crespi, in the Porta Genova area – is building a production centre covering over 1,000 square metres in Linate, on the outskirts of Milan, and is preparing to launch a second brand by the end of 2026. A third brand is planned for 2027. “We’re trying to be a group, not just a restaurant chain,” explains Diego Del Rio Toca, CEO and co-founder, in an interview with Food24 alongside his business partner Manfredo Camperio.
Figures are still small, but growing rapidly
The figures point to rapid growth. According to figures released by the founders, in the first full financial year (2023), with ‘one and a half restaurants’ in operation – the first already open, the second having opened on Corso Italia that same year – turnover stood at around €1.1–1.15 million. In 2024, with two and a half outlets (including the opening of the third in Piazza Sempione, overlooking the Arco della Pace, in March), the total turnover of Rubicon Capital Ventures (RCV) – the controlling holding company – exceeded 3 million, representing growth of almost 172 per cent compared with the previous year, according to the company’s statement. In 2025, with three restaurants operating at full capacity plus the fourth recently opened in the Isola area, the stated target is 5 million, with positive EBITDA. For 2026, with the new openings, the target is to approach 10 million. “On average, each restaurant should generate 2 million euros”, says Del Rio Toca.
Property investments also follow a clear trajectory. The first restaurant cost around 500,000 euros, the second on Corso Italia around 650,000, and the third in Piazza Sempione between 700,000 and 750,000. The fourth, the flagship restaurant in Isola – the largest, designed to accommodate bookings, large tables and “pasta courses” – cost around one million euros. “On average, opening a well-designed restaurant costs us 750,000 euros,” summarises Del Rio Toca. Overall, across the four restaurants, intellectual property and the production centre, RCV estimates it has invested around 5 million euros since the business began. For the Linate production hub alone, the total investment – including machinery and equipment already acquired – is estimated at around 1.37 million euros, with a remaining budget of 800,000 euros to complete the refurbishment of the premises.
An American-style company and Italian-made raw materials
Property costs are one of the cornerstones of the model. Del Rio Toca cites rent as a decisive factor: ‘We spend less than 4 per cent of our net revenue on property. A rival chain that closed down a month ago next to one of our outlets was spending around 17 per cent.’ The corporate structure is that of a C-corp, equivalent to an American SpA – Rubicon Capital Ventures – which controls the Italian company. The board includes, amongst others, Laurence Franklin (former CEO of Coach, Tumi and Frette), Marco De Ceglie (with a forty-year international career, former CEO of De Cecco USA and Filippo Berio USA) and Daniele Molteni, an executive director at JPMorgan since 2006, based between New York and London.
The concept is built around an idea that the founders describe as “fast luxury restaurant”: order at the counter, table service, non-stop cooking from 12 noon to 10.30 pm, an average bill of around 22 euros, with no cover charge and no bookings accepted. Filtered water is included; bread – supplied by Vezzoli bakery, which specialises in five-star establishments – costs a fixed price of one euro. Seven types of fresh pasta, each paired with a specific flour and a dedicated sauce, served in 150-gram portions (equivalent to around 100 grams of dried pasta). The flour is mainly supplied by Casillo Group, one of Italia’s leading players in the milling sector.
‘You won’t find Italian pine nuts in the supermarket, nor will you find certified Italian flour. We use only Italian products; we don’t even stock Coca-Cola. Even our tiles are made in Italia by an artist we know in Milan; the cushions are handmade by an Italian upholsterer; and the chairs are designer pieces, also from an Italian company,” says Camperio.
