Red Sparrow Pizza is the latest brand to launch into the crowded pizza franchise marketplace. The Melbourne-based business has announced plans to expand its fledgling vegan pizza chain further across its home city and into Sydney, Brisbane and Byron Bay.

Founders Michael Craig and Shelley Scott opened Red Sparrow Pizza’s first outlet in 2017 in Collingwood and have since added a Chapel Street store and a food truck.

The couple pride themselves on the brand’s authentic Neapolitan approach using traditional techniques for making pizza dough and tomato sauce, and baking the pizzas in Italian wood-fired ovens.

Earlier this year, Red Sparrow Pizza partnered with DC Strategy to bring their franchise goals to life. 

The all-in-one franchise firm has guided the Red Sparrow Pizza team through the initial stages of their tailored franchise project, and will now assist the brand with the franchise recruitment and marketing across Australia.

Craig said “As small business owners with more skills in hospitality than business we were looking for a team who could help us in all the aspects that we were unfamiliar with.”

Head of recruitment at DC Strategy, James Young, told Inside Franchise Business Executive “Red Sparrow Pizza stands out in the busy pizza market as a unique franchise opportunity that’s focussed on a plant-model for the current environment – offering dine-in, takeaway and food truck options.”

Vegan and plant-based pizza and other menu items will be prepared by a chef in house with quality ingredients ordered by sustainable suppliers.

Plant-based eating has gained a firm grip in Australia with Roy Morgan reporting in October 2020 about 12 percent or 12.5 million Australians subscribe to vegetarian diets.

This story originally appeared in our sister publication, Inside Franchise Business Executive.