Current shareholders hold the remaining 25 percent of the company, Orkla reports in a press release. No acquisition amount is mentioned, but the deal will give the chain a value of 145 million euros, the Norwegians write.
Dutch company
New York Pizza has 75 employees at its head office in Amstelveen and is currently mainly a Dutch company with its takeaway restaurants. Of the 232 franchise locations, 229 are located in the Netherlands.
Last year, 11.5 million pizzas were sold, good for a turnover of 54.7 million euros, Orkla says.
We are also cautiously looking across the border. End of last year the first branch was opened in Leuven, Belgium and there are plans for five new locations in Belgium this year. In addition, there are two pizza shops in Cologne.
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Especially interesting pizza dough
But in another area, New York Pizza is already a lot bigger internationally: pizza dough. Through Euro Pizza Products started in 1993 as a dough manufacturer and wholesaler for New York Pizza, pizza dough and other pizza ingredients are now exported to 18 European countries.
The factory in Amstelveen can produce more than 20 million kilos of pizza dough per year. This happens for pizza chains, but also for caterers and makers of deep-fried pizzas.
Orkla is a large holding company with about 300 brands and has been in the pizza business for a while. As a result, it has been a major customer of Euro Pizza Products for a few years now. Orkla calls the dough manufacturer a very important part of New York Pizza’s business model.
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The largest external customer of the Dutch dough factory is the Finnish pizza chain Kotipizza, a company that has been owned by Orkla since 2019 and, like New York Pizza, consists of franchise locations.
“With both New York Pizza and Kotipizza in our portfolio, we see several opportunities for enhanced collaboration,” said Kenneth Haavet, CEO of Orkla Consumer & Financial Investments.
Need approval
Haavet becomes the new chairman of the supervisory board of New York Pizza. The CEO of Kotipizza, Tommi Tervanen, will also be given a seat on the council.
The deal is an important step for New York Pizza to grow, says CEO Philippe Vorst.
New York Pizza will remain a separate chain alongside Kotipizza. Orkla expects to complete the deal in the third quarter of this year after approval from the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets.
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