Franco Manca and the 16-site shake-up: what the closures reveal about sourdough pizza’s slump
When Franco Manca first opened in Brixton Market in 2008, its sourdough pizza felt like a break from the ordinary. Now, the chain is scaling back, and the move raises a bigger question about whether franco manca still fits the way people want to eat. The company is closing 16 restaurants through a company voluntary agreement, a step that puts about 225 jobs at risk. The decision lands at a moment when pizza remains popular, but the restaurant version is facing sharper pressure from supermarkets, costs and convenience.
Why the closures matter now
The immediate significance of the franco manca closures is not just the number of restaurants involved, but what the cutback says about a brand that once seemed built for expansion. The chain has around 70 pizzerias in the UK, and in 2021 its parent group said it had identified more than 125 potential future locations. That made growth look like the default setting. The decision to shutter 16 sites, including the original Brixton branch, suggests a more cautious reality.
Marcel Khan, chief executive of The Fulham Shore, linked the restructuring to external cost pressures affecting hospitality, including national insurance contributions, the living wage and business rates. The company has also said the affected sites are no longer sustainable. In practical terms, the question is not whether pizza has lost its audience. It is whether the economics of running a dine-in sourdough chain have become harder to defend in a market where shoppers can buy alternative pizzas elsewhere.
What lies beneath the headline
At the center of the story is a shift in how consumers value the product that helped build the brand. Food service consultant Peter Backman has said sourdough is not a passing fad and estimates it accounts for about 20% of sales in the pizza sector. The deeper problem, he argues, is that it has become mainstream. That matters because once a style becomes widely accepted, it stops being a unique reason to visit one chain over another.
Backman also points to the role of retail. He says retail now accounts for about half of all pizzas sold, which suggests that convenience is increasingly pulling demand away from restaurants. Mintel data shows pizza made up 29% of new sourdough product launches between 2022 and 2025, a sign that the category has spread well beyond restaurant menus. For a business such as franco manca, that creates a difficult backdrop: the product remains attractive, but it no longer belongs only to the dining room.
Trish Caddy, an associate principal for foodservice research at Mintel, says restaurant pizza brands are now competing with supermarkets on price and convenience. That competition is especially acute because sourdough pizzas have tended to sit at the pricier end of the market, even though Backman says sourdough is not inherently more expensive to produce. The premium reflects consumer perception. In a cost-of-living squeeze, that perception may no longer be enough to keep customers coming through the door.
Expert views on a crowded market
Gerry del Guercio of BiteTwice, a food blogger who visited in the early days, described the original Brixton experience as “all the rage, ” adding that it was “desperately cool” and drew queues in London. His recollection captures why the brand broke through in the first place: it offered something that felt fresh, urban and different from the standard fast-food pizza model dominated by US chains at the time.
That early advantage matters because it helps explain the scale of the current reversal. A concept that once stood out now has to compete in a far more crowded field. Backman’s view that sourdough is no longer a novelty suggests the market has moved on without abandoning pizza itself. In that sense, the weakness is specific to positioning, not demand. The issue is not the disappearance of appetite, but the erosion of exclusivity.
What the reset could mean beyond one brand
The implications extend beyond one chain and beyond one city. Nine London sites are understood to be among the closures, along with restaurants in Hove and Glasgow. That spread shows the pressure is not confined to one region. It also hints that the chain’s original urban appeal may not be enough to offset rising operating costs across the country.
For the broader hospitality market, the move is a warning that growth assumptions built during stronger consumer demand can quickly become liabilities when conditions tighten. If pizza is still growing overall, as Backman says, then the real test is which format captures that growth: dine-in restaurants, takeaway-heavy businesses or supermarkets. The answer will likely shape the next phase for brands such as franco manca.
The chain still has a recognizable identity, a large footprint and a product that many diners still want. But if sourdough pizza is now everywhere, where exactly does the premium restaurant version still fit?
