Find out how Made in Italy keeps its pizza and pasta simple, healthy, and authentic
QSR Media got a chance to sit down with gourmet pizza and pasta restaurant, Made in Italy, about its mission to bring simple, authentic Italian food to an evolving QSR landscape.
Made in Italy specialises in authentic Italian gourmet pizza and pasta. The brand has a selection of traditional and gourmet pizza, as well as antipasti and salads, pasta and side dishes, using only the freshest ingredients, handmade pasta and pizza dough, slow cooked sauces and simple flavours that honour its Italian heritage. Made in Italy also offers home delivery, with stores in Pyrmont, Castle Hill, Rose Bay, Annandale and the Sydney CBD.
QSR Media: What's new at Made in Italy?
Made in Italy: Our stores are growing. We started with just one take-away store in Pyrmont, and we have now grown this to 5 stores in Rosebay, Sydney CBD, Castle Hill and Annandale. We are developing a new range of pizzas incorporating some Italian products that we are currently not using such as truffle oil, prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella.
QSR Media: Could you tell us more about what makes Made In Italy unique?
Made in Italy: The proof is in our pizza, you just have to taste it and you will know. Honouring our Italian heritage- with simple flavours, fresh ingredients, love and care is at the heart of everything we do, we do not overcomplicate the flavours in our food, we only use simple seasoning that enhance our produce such as salt, oregano, chilli and garlic.
In the past few years there has been a real push towards “gourmet” with artificial flavours and sauces such as peri peri, garlic aioli etc., we definitely will not go down this path, rather stay real to time proven seasoning methods. We also have a range of fresh pastas, salads and desserts.
QSR Media: What do you think are the challenges in the Italian food sector right now? Opportunities?
Made in Italy: There’s a push for clean, healthy eating which is a fantastic opportunity for MII. In the past, people have associated pizza with unhealthy fast food but for us we pride ourselves in our fresh, quality ingredients. Healthy eating is all about increasing the nutrient density of your diet and eliminating processed foods. Our range of pizzas include vegetarian, gluten free and vegan and are packed with nutritious toppings so if you’re health conscious, you don’t have to miss out. We use no preservatives in our food and our crust is thin with no added sugars.
Margins are also getting tighter as a result of increased cost of goods, wages and rents, whilst at the same time it is very difficult to increase prices, this has forced many operators to improvise with more effective ways of marketing and simplifying of internal procedures and systems especially in the technology area with better Point of sale systems, driver allocation technology and online ordering.
QSR Media: What trends do you observe in your customers? How about trends in the Italian food sector?
Made in Italy: The above plus there has been a big trend towards organic and natural products, there is also a wave of people leaning towards gluten free options in both our pizzas and pasta, not only as an increase to food allergies but just a general lifestyle choice. People want healthier options. Custom made pizzas are also on the rise, we feel that this is a result of food shows on television bringing out the home cook or creative side in people.
Our company philosophy is to encourage this and as a result we allow half/half on our pizzas at no extra cost, unlimited changes to customers pizzas and different choice of pizza base and pastas. We offer 45 different varieties of pizza e.g. ravioli, gnocchi, fettucini, spaghetti and penne and a range of 9 different styles of sauce.
