Kotipizza Group


Kotipizza Group Oyj is a Finnish restaurant group focused on fast casual dining. Kotipizza Group has 280 restaurants in Finland, of which all except one are franchise-operated. The Group consists of five companies, three of which are restaurant chains:, Kotipizza Oyj and Chalupa Oy operateare operate pizza franchises in Finland, and The Social Burger Joint Oy engages in restaurant operations through its own restaurant. The fourth group company, Helsinki Foodstock Oy, provides food-related supply, logistics and selection services for a number of chain-managed companies. Its customers include the Kotipizza chain and other significant fast food operators. The fifth company, No Pizza, is a restaurant concept aimed at international markets. Kotipizza Group had total net sales of EUR84.1m in the financial year 2017 and EBIT of EUR6.4m. The Group's shares are listed on the main list of Nasdaq OMX Helsinki.
In November 2018 Orkla announced that it will acquire Kotipizza Group.

Organization

In 2017, Kotipizza Group employed 20 people, 1Kotipizza chain management 19, Foodstock 12, and Chalupa and Social Burgerjoint chain management two persons each. In total, Group management employed 55 people at the end of the year. Kotipizza restaurants were run by almost 300 franchisees, who in total had approximately 1,700 employees. On average, each restaurant employed six people, some of whom may have been working on a part-time basis. Chalupa had 13 restaurants, each of which had their own franchisee. In addition to franchisees, the restaurants employed 20 employees. The Social Burgerjoint restaurant had 10 employees.

Board of directors

In spring 2018, in addition to Chairman of the Board of Directors Kalle Ruuskanen, Kotipizza Group Board of Directors consisted of Kim Hanslin, Petri Parvinen, Minna Nissinen, Virpi Holmqvist and Dan Castillo.

Owners

In spring 2018, Kotipizza Group's 10 largest shareholders were:
  1. Keskinäinen Työeläkevakuutusyhtiö Elo
  2. Evli Finnish Small Cap Fund
  3. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company
  4. Säästöpankki Small Cap Mutual Fund
  5. Alfred Berg Finland Fokus Mutual Fund
  6. Danske Invest Suomen Parhaat
  7. Kirkon Eläkerahasto
  8. Danske Invest Arvo Finland Value
  9. eQ Nordic Small Cap Mutual Fund
  10. Danske Invest Finnish Small Cap Fund

    Business and brands

Kotipizza Group Oyj consists of Chalupa Ltd, Kotipizza Oyj, The Social Burger Joint Ltd and the supply and logistics company, Helsinki Foodstock Oy.

Chalupa

The founder of Shanghai Cowboy restaurants, Iman Gharagozlu, was involved in the planning of the Mexican-style Chalupa chain. In 2015, the first restaurants of the chain were opened in Kallio, Punavuori, Kauniainen and Tampere.

Kotipizza

Kotipizza Oyj is the largest pizza restaurant chain in the Nordic Countries and it operates a pizza franchise in Finland.

Kotipizza Go

Kotipizza Go pizza slices are sold in service points specialised in them, such as in long-distance trains’ restaurant cars, which are run by Avecra Oy and have ovens specifically designed for Kotipizza Go slices, and in twenty Neste K service stations. Pizza slices are handmade from exactly the same ingredients as the pizzas sold in Kotipizza restaurants.

No Pizza

The No Pizza restaurant concept is aimed at international markets. No Pizza brand says No to many “bad things”, like paying with cash, unnecessary food additives, food waste, plastic bags, but Yes to “good things”, like responsibly produced ingredients. Kotipizza Group plans to expand the concept into a restaurant chain using the “master franchising” collaboration model in which a foreign partner receives either a country- or city-specific license. The concept is based on a pizza base made of sour dough designed with Fazer, sustainable and fresh toppings and ingredients as well as a distinctive visual image and customer experience. The pizzas are baked in an oven in 380 Celsius degrees and over the half of the toppings are added in front of the customer on the counter.
Pizza toppings include, among other things, reindeer salami, lingonberry, chanterelles, spruce oil, roasted chicken and wings sauce. Toppings are sourced locally, for example the cheese for the Helsinki restaurant comes from Helsinki, Kuusamo and Suonenjoki. There is also a dessert pizza, Rosé wine in the tap and local bottle beer, pale ale specially made for No Pizza.
First No Pizza restaurant was opened in June 2018 in Helsinki in shopping center Citycenter. In the middle of the restaurant there is a so-called Black Box containing the kitchen and bar area. No Pizza created its own playlist which suits its brand and values in collaboration with Spotify Business.

Social Burgerjoint

Social Food Street Burgerjoint, founded in January 2017 in Sörnäinen Helsinki, is about to be turned into a chain restaurant. The restaurant was founded by Mika Tuomonen and Herkko Volanen. Tuomonen won the MasterChef Finland competition in 2012.

Tasty Market

In Tasty Market lunch restaurants, the customer can choose and combine their lunch from the selection offered by several fast casual brands. According to the concept presented in 2018, in the kick-off phase, Tasty Market will have products on its menu from at least Kotipizza and Chalupa. The Group plans to open lunch restaurants, for instance in business parks, office buildings and educational institutes.

History

Early phases 1987–2010

The first Kotipizza restaurant was opened in Vaasa in 1987. The chain was founded by Rabbe Grönblom.
In 2003, Tommi Tervanen founded Foodstock Oy, which started to cooperate with Kotipizza. In 2005, a company called Ab R. Grönblom International Ltd, owned by Rabbe Grönblom, the owner of Kotipizza, acquired 90% of the share capital of Foodstock. After the acquisition, Frankis Finland Oy owned by RGI had two subsidiaries, Kotipizza and Foodstock.

Frankis Group 2011-2014

In 2011, the funds managed by Sentica Partners acquired a majority holding in Frankis Finland as well as the shares in Foodstock held by minority shareholders — and Frankis Group Oyj was created. In the same year, Frankis Group's first 55 Burger, Cola & Fries fast food chain restaurant was opened. The chain was sold in 2014 to Jokes Family Oy, which was in charge of Rolls restaurant chain.
In 2012, former CEO of Helsinki Foodstock Tommi Tervanen was appointed as the CEO of Frankis Group.
In 2014, Frankis Group was owned by the funds managed by private equity company Sentica Partners, CEO Tommi Tervanen and other key persons of the company. In December, the company sold its Francount business operations to Accountor. Francount was an accounting office that offered bookkeeping and other accounting services for companies in the field of hotel and restaurant. Its largest customer group was Kotipizza chain franchisees.

Kotipizza Group’s IPO year 2015

Frankis Group Oyj changed its name to Kotipizza Group Oyj in March 2015. Furthermore, the company's domicile was changed from Vaasa to Helsinki. On 21 May 2015, Kotipizza Group Oyj announced its plan to carry out an IPO and become listed on the main list of the Helsinki Stock Exchange. The IPO was launched on 5 June 2015. The company had first had plans for an IPO in 2000. After going public, a fund of private equity company Sentica, Sentica Buyout III, was the largest shareowner of the company, holding 61% of the company's share capital. Other major shareowners of the company were pension insurance companies and investment funds.
In the 2015 financial year, net sales grew 7.9% to EUR 56.4 million. The company closed down its unprofitable restaurants and founded the Mexican-style Chalupa chain.

Kotipizza Group 2016-

In February 2017, Sentica sold its holding in Kotipizza Group and Kotipizza announced that it had acquired Pizzataxi.
In September 2017, the company launched its Kotipizza Go pizza slices concept.
In November 2017, the Group acquired a majority holding in Day After Day, a company in charge of the Social Food Street Burgerjoint restaurant and a food truck called Social Food that appears at various events. In addition, the Group announced its plans to expand the company into a chain. The founders of the company, Mika Tuomonen and Herkko Volanen, continued as minority shareowners and restaurateurs of Social Burgerjoint.
In December 2017, the Group announced its plans to launch a new restaurant concept, No Pizza, aimed at international markets. The plan was to open the first restaurant of the concept in the Nordic countries in 2018.
During the same month, the Kotipizza chain's monthly sales exceeded EUR 10 million for the first time.
In February 2018, Kotipizza announced its plans to found a new lunch restaurant concept. Collaboration partners were sought for the Tasty Market lunch restaurant concept with which the Group planned to open restaurants, for instance in business parks.
In November 2018 European food manufacturer Orkla announced that it will acquire Kotipizza Group. With the acquisition Orkla wanted to increase their presence in channels growing faster than traditional grocery.

Corporate social responsibility

Kotipizza supports, among others, Plan International in Finland.
In 2017, the Kotipizza chain received the MSC ecolabel, confirming that all fish and seafood served by the chain come from sustainable sources and certified fisheries. Kotipizza was the first pizza chain in the world to be licensed to use the label. Products with the MSC ecolabel are guaranteed to have been responsibly caught by a certified sustainable fishery. MSC is an international non-profit organisation established to address the problem of unsustainable fishing and safeguard seafood.

Recognition