Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • September 2020 (Revised October 2020)
  • Case
  • HBS Case Collection

Briscola—Pizza Society: Scaling Affordable Luxury

By: Gary P. Pisano and Federica Gabrieli
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:44
ShareBar

Abstract

Riccardo Cortese and Federico Pinna were the CEOs of Briscola—Pizza Society, a restaurant chain they had founded in 2014 with a clear ambition: create a distinctive international pizza chain that would combine a fast-casual format with the devotion to quality that characterized family-run Italian restaurants. In 2017, Francesco Trapani, the former CEO of luxury jewelry company Bulgari, had taken a majority stake in the chain, which had switched to a format of "affordable luxury." At the end of 2019, Briscola counted six restaurants in the northern regions of Italy and its founders were grappling with a series of questions: Should they consolidate their position in other Italian regions or expand directly abroad? In which countries would their concept work best? Should they change their direct ownership model? If so, what kinds of partnerships, licensing agreements, and franchise models should they use? Finally, what was the right degree of standardization across their restaurants? Allowing some variations in the menu at the restaurant level would be attractive to target specific segments of their clientele, but would this complicate their operations and potentially hinder their growth?

Keywords

Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Expansion; Geographic Location; Business Model; Ownership Type; Food and Beverage Industry; Europe; Italy

Citation

Pisano, Gary P., and Federica Gabrieli. "Briscola—Pizza Society: Scaling Affordable Luxury." Harvard Business School Case 621-031, September 2020. (Revised October 2020.)
  • Educators
  • Purchase

About The Author

Gary P. Pisano

Technology and Operations Management
→More Publications

Related Work

    • September 2020 (Revised October 2020)
    • Faculty Research

    Briscola—Pizza Society: Scaling Affordable Luxury

    By: Gary P. Pisano and Federica Gabrieli
Related Work
  • Briscola—Pizza Society: Scaling Affordable Luxury By: Gary P. Pisano and Federica Gabrieli
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College.