If Only They Knew Mario Aleppo, founder of Fireaway Pizza

Maria Aleppo, Fireaway Pizza, explains his growth and shares his advice for other entrepreneurs. Who is Mario Aleppo? Mario Aleppo is the British Entrepreneur and founder of FireAway Pizza. Mario was named Food & Drink Entrepreneur of the Year 2022. What is Fireaway Pizza? Fireaway Pizza is a chain of "designer pizza" stores started in 2016 by Mario Aleppo. The entrepreneur started the pizza restaurant in London with around £50,000 and has now expanded to over 150 stores across Britain. The chain operates in a "Subway" style, letting the customer pick their own toppings and having their bespoke pizza cooked in just 180 seconds. Things grew quickly for Fireaway as the company was making money, successfully breaking even in their first 3 months of opening - before seeing profitability thereafter. Likewise, Mario explained that the first talks of franchising reared its head quickly with a fan of the brand asking if they would be able to open their own Fireaway Pizza. “I would’ve probably, at least for a longer period of time, stayed with 1 shop for myself. But the fact that a customer came in and said that he was in the middle of opening a Papa Johns with his son and he said ‘would you consider franchising the business?’. “I was happy and grateful taht someone else had come forward to say that they liked the business that much that they wanted to do one themselves. So I happily said yes.” “Within 4 months he opened his own store in Streatham, South London, and he was doing better than me”. Sharing his advice for other entrepreneurs preparing to start a new venture, Mario shares the following:

"Choose a simple product and, add a twist to it and don't waste time thinking of two different [crazy] products. Choose something simple that a lot of people will need or want and think about how you're going to make it different from the competition."