Anthony Naissary born and bought up in Mumbai, he is the founder of Francos Pizzeria. Anthony started his culinary career in 1988 he started with working in Hotel President as an apprentice, after working for 1.5 year in Hotel President, He joined Leela Kempinski in 1992 where he worked for 2 years and 10 months further, he went on to work as steward in pizza domain.
After three years of working in ‘Pizza domain he got promoted as a Supervisor, in addition he worked as an assistant manager in Pizzeria at Churchgate in 2002, after two years of working in Pizzeria he got promoted as the restaurant manager from where he got transferred to ‘Pizza by the Bay in Bandra West for two years furthermore he joined Pizza Corner as an area manager in charge of Mumbai and Pune branch, he then went on to join B’s pizza for 1.5 years as an airport and counter operational manager for Mumbai,
Subsequently in 2010 he joined mad over donuts in Andheri when there were at most six outlets in Mumbai and Pune operations.
During that period, he had gained a vast experience of business development, managing, training and R&D, the very moment for the first time he desired to open his own restaurant.
He then departed from MOD in 2013 and joined De Villa café for 1.5 years heading the operations of the café. after leaving De Villa Café he joined playlist pizzeria which closed down during Covid,
At that instant ,he thought of starting his own Pizza Restaurant instead for looking for another job, thus the journey of francos pizzeria began to take place.
The inspiration for Francos Pizzeria started with his love for pizzas which has also become his passion
Since he spent half of his life making pizzas, “Francos Pizzeria makes the best pan-fried pizza in the town” he began to share how “pan-fried pizza takes 2 to 2.5 hours to be made which is why when the process has to be handled delicately then only you can have the right outcome”.
But starting your own business is not as easy, Anthony says it’s difficult to get the right staff, he also shared some of his quick things to keep in mind while opening your own business, for starters you must have strong finance to sustain in the industry and it takes 3-4 ears for people to just know about your brands existence let alone talk about it.
.According to Anthony there should be only three varieties of pizza: hand tossed, pan fried and thin and crispy. Francos’s Pizzeria strives to make pizzas which are unique for instance they came up with the idea of cheese burst on thin crust base apart from that they also introduced a very unique idea of KULHAD PIZZA, where did the idea of kulhad pizza come from? He said he “initially desired to introduce cone pizza but later dropped the ideas because it wouldn’t have gained as much attention” but a kulhad pizza is as we know exceptionally unique and loved by many.
Francos Pizzeria recently also started their own beverages like ice tea, coolers and milkshake drinks with popping, fruit and chewy boba.
Anthony also explains that “the main USP of francos pizzeria is that every pizza has a different taste” he talked about his exotic peppy paneer pizza which has tandoori paneer, corn, broccoli and caramelized onion as a topping which gives a rare flavor.
Another exclusive dish of francos includes their extraordinary Jain special, “we can make 90% of our food is jain dominated i.e., without onion and garlic because of our special pizza sauce which includes ketchup and our secret ingredients and its equivalent to one with onion and garlic” similarly Francos makes cheese garlic bread which is liked by all the Jain community.
In conclusion he says “Francos Pizzeria keeps in mind the customers preference and taste while making food which makes it customer friendly.
Courtesy : In Conversation with Anthony Naissary, Restaurateur – Francos Pizzeria, Mumbai, India
