Franchisor Pizza Bonici continues to expand its network – Le Journal des Entreprises

Created in 2008 in the Toulouse region, the Pizza Bonici franchise continues to grow (consolidated turnover 2021: €22 million; consolidated turnover 2022: €27 million) and will multiply the openings of pizza points of sale this year, which already has 75 in Europe and Africa. In France, stores will thus see the light of day in Boussy-Saint-Antoine (Essonne) and in the surroundings of Angoulême, Bordeaux, Poitiers and Valence.

With a structure on a human scale (8 employees at the head office at L’Union and 4 people in the field supporting franchisees), the company is reaping the benefits of a concept imagined fifteen years ago by its founder Jérôme Bonici. “There were quality pizzerias but none of them delivered outside the city center, remembers the manager. I opened the first store in Saint-Orens-de-Gameville, which immediately became a hit.”

15,000 euros contribution

He took over the model from Castanet-Tolosan then from Balma with the same success, supported by ad hoc marketing. “It was from there that I developed the franchise brand,” he explains. Jérôme Bonici notably deploys his points of sale in the Bordeaux belt and around Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales), by setting up his employees there. “With our economic model, we can open a store with only 15,000 euros of contribution, he describes. We pool all external services (accounting, insurance, vehicle rental), we process 450 payslips per month. We must be one of the only franchises not to take a percentage of the turnover.”

The Covid period accelerated the growth of the network, which opened 19 stores in 2021, an exceptional year (6 stores in 2022). “The counterpart is inflation on raw materials, notes the entrepreneur. So we have slowed down development a bit to focus on helping those of our franchisees who might be in difficulty.”

Two master franchises

However, Pizza Bonici aims to establish itself around Lille, Lyon and Alsace (Mulhouse, Strasbourg). This development could also lead to the creation of its first branches. “We will probably have to go through this to settle well in regions where we are not yet known,” he says. Internationally, Pizza Bonici is present in Anderlecht, in the suburbs of Brussels (Belgium), through a commercial development contract, and soon in Témara (Morocco) and Yaoundé (Cameroon).

The brand also sold two master franchises (contract giving a company, the master franchisee, the exclusive franchise development of a brand for a given territory), in Spanish Catalonia and Togo. Pizza Bonici already has three stores in this African country, and two more are about to open. “We are associated with Zener, the number one gas distributor in Africa, explains Jérôme Bonici, and are present in its service stations. The raw materials for our stores are sourced locally, we only send the material.”

Claiming the artisanal quality of its products (more than 70% fresh products), Pizza Bonici also becomes, at the start of 2023, the first pizzeria franchise to free itself from cardboard boxes. It sells its customers a reusable pizza container, designed by the German Pizzycle, molded from a high quality and recyclable polypropylene. Another way to stand out from the competition.