Backed by a seven-figure funding package from Bank of Scotland, Victor Pizza is relocating from its 12,000 sq ft site in Possilpark, Glasgow to a new 24,500 sq ft facility in Coatbridge which lies just east of the city centre in North Lanarkshire.
The upgraded site more than doubles production capacity, introduces new product lines - including High Protein Pizza, Pizza Wraps and Mini Buffet Pizza Bites – and brings in 17 new hires, bolstering the team to 54 employees.
Founded in 1970s as a small family bakery, Victor Pizza has grown into a £5 million business.
In the early days, the team was approached by a local Italian fish and chip shop owner with a unique request: a pizza that could be fried – a nostalgic nod to how it was made back in Naples. What started as a backroom experiment became Pizza Fritto, now a chip shop favourite across Scotland, more commonly known as pizza crunch or deep-fried pizza.
Since then, the business has been working to create healthier pizza, teaming up with Donnie Maclean from Scottish food brand Eat Balanced who had worked with health experts from the University of Glasgow to develop a ‘nutritionally balanced pizza’.
The result was a multi award-winning pizza made with iodine-rich seaweed, a natural prebiotic fibre in the base and vitamin-packed red pepper paste mixed through the sauce. Today, these pizzas are shipped across the UK to schools and sports venues, providing healthier options that don’t compromise on taste.
Looking ahead, sustainability is firmly on the menu. The new site is being prepared for solar panel installation and Victor Pizza is working with Scottish Enterprise on projects to reduce food waste and lower carbon emissions.
“We’ve come a long way from frying pizzas in the back of a Glasgow bakery. Now, we’re sending out hundreds of pallets every month to customers all over the UK,” commented Anne Marie Cairney, co-founder at Victor Pizza.
“We’ve built something more than a factory. It’s a family. And that’s the difference people feel when they work with us. This new chapter in Coatbridge gives us space to grow while staying grounded in the values we started with.”
