A successful Newcastle pizza brand is set to make a big splash by the Tyne this weekend with the official opening of its latest city venue.
Scream For Pizza will be launching its new ‘grab and go’ pizza and ice cream outlet at 31 Quayside, directly across the water from The Sage, on Saturday (4 September).
A dozen new jobs have been created at the new restaurant, taking Scream For Pizza’s total workforce up to 27 people.
And the management team is continuing to look at options for opening further venues elsewhere in the region which will offer a range of different pizza concepts.
The Quayside project has been supported with a £40,000 investment from the North East Small Loan Fund Supported by The European Regional Development Fund, which the Scream For Pizza team secured through regional fund management firm NEL Fund Managers.
Scream For Pizza was conceived by directors Victoria Featherby and Alexandra Walker, who left their cruise ship jobs in 2010 to move to Naples and train at the celebrated La Notizia restaurant under chef Enzo Coccias.
They launched a mobile food van service from a converted former French army ambulance in Newcastle in 2014 and opened their first restaurant in Sandyford five years later, with a Scream For Pizza concession also now established within the Full Circle Brewery in Hoults Yard.
Victoria Featherby says: “The success of our business has always been based on using locally-sourced, seasonal ingredients, great quality Italian artisanal products and traditional pizza-making techniques, and that’s exactly what we’ll be offering in our new Quayside restaurant.
“While we do have ten seats in the new venue, the focus is very much on ‘grab and go’ food, with the products on offer tailored to appeal to customers who are on the move or who have limited time to find some food.
“We think it’ll be the perfect pit stop for local office workers on their lunchbreaks, people enjoying a night out on the Quayside and visitors to weekend markets and other city centre events.
“Having the Mini and Junior Great North Runs happening on our doorstep just a few days after we open will give us a great chance to quickly build some momentum in our new home, and we can’t wait to welcome everyone in.
“We think there are also lots of opportunities to grow the business even more by tweaking the Scream concept and rolling it out in different locations, and once the Quayside outlet is properly up and running, we’ll be looking at how we might put these ideas into practice.”
Jonathan Armitage, investment executive at NEL Fund Managers, adds: “With more and more people coming back into the city and some big events lined up over the coming weeks, Scream For Pizza couldn’t have chosen a better time to be opening up on the Quayside, and we hope everything goes brilliantly for the team this weekend and beyond.”
Part of the £120m North East Fund and aimed predominantly at smaller SMEs, the £9m North East Small Loan Fund typically offers loans of between £10,000 and £100,000 to businesses in Tyne & Wear, Durham and Northumberland.
It is designed to assist with the creation of over 1,200 new regional jobs in more than 320 SMEs over the life of the fund.
The overarching £120m North East Fund will provide financial support for more than 600 businesses, creating around 3,500 jobs and delivering a legacy of up to £80m for further investment into the region.
For more information on NEL’s investment criteria, visit www.nel.co.uk or contact the investment team on 0345 369 7007.