Pizza Italiante plans Istanbul expansion through joint investment

Pizza Italiante is targeting investment on both the European and Asian sides of Istanbul, with expansion based on an equity partnership model in which it invests alongside its business partners. According to comments by co-founder Caner Şener published in Platin on 17 October 2026, the brand wants to limit its annual expansion target to no more than four or five new branches. The plan centres not just on opening restaurants, but on sharing investment and operational responsibilities.

Istanbul ambitions run alongside expansion in Anatolia

Şener said the brand had largely completed the development of its Ankara network and that both sides of Istanbul were now on its investment agenda. Istanbul therefore features in Pizza Italiante’s expansion plans as a market spanning both sides of the city. The announcement identifies where the brand wants to invest rather than confirming a specific restaurant opening.

Discussing growth in Anatolia, he named Konya, Şanlıurfa, Gaziantep and İzmir. Şener said the aim was to maintain steady expansion in Anatolia as branches in these cities came into operation during 2026. These locations were presented as part of the year’s growth plans, not as a list of completed openings.

Considering the Istanbul ambitions alongside the planned Anatolian branches helps clarify the brand’s priorities. The approach Şener described is not about abandoning existing growth areas when entering a new city, but about assessing investments across different cities while maintaining a controlled pace of expansion. His statement that the Ankara network was largely established also provides useful context for the geographical plan.

The brand participates as an equity investor

For those following Turkey’s franchise market, a notable aspect of the announcement is Pizza Italiante’s participation in its business partners’ investments. Şener said the company contributes a proportion of the investment made by entrepreneurs, investing alongside them through an equity partnership model. He stressed that the company sees itself not simply as a brand owner or franchisor, but as a partner sharing responsibility for both the investment and the operation.

Şener described the approach as follows: “We contribute a proportion of the investment made by our business partners, investing alongside them through an equity partnership model.” This suggests that the brand’s role in the stated model extends beyond providing its name and operating concept. However, the announcement describes its investment contribution only as a proportion; it does not specify a single equity stake that applies to every restaurant.

The brand’s emphasis on partnership also shapes its approach to investment. Şener said they preferred not to use the word “franchise” in its conventional sense, seeing investors primarily as business partners. The distinction goes beyond terminology: in his account, investing together, jointly considering decisions and working together to resolve operational problems are all parts of the same model.

New restaurants are planned through joint decision-making

According to Şener, each new business is planned jointly with the company’s shareholders and business partners. The co-founder said the person who would manage the restaurant mattered as much as the suitability of the location. Decisions are made together, he explained, with both the investment and the operation assessed jointly. He added that they also sit around the same table to resolve problems.

In this account, opening a restaurant is not the final stage of the partnership, but the start of an ongoing operating relationship. Şener did not present investment assessment and day-to-day operational responsibilities as separate processes. Understanding the brand’s equity partnership approach therefore requires looking at its decision-making arrangements as well as its capital contribution.

Şener also said the brand had five or more business partners in many parts of Anatolia. He shared this figure while explaining the importance of the partnership model to the brand. As the number refers to business partners, it should not be interpreted directly as a total restaurant count. The announcement remains focused on the investment and operating relationships with partners rather than the overall size of the network.

Annual expansion capped at four or five branches

Another defining feature of Pizza Italiante’s growth strategy is its intended limit on new branches. “Our target is to open a maximum of four or five new branches a year,” Şener said, explaining that the company favours controlled growth over rapid expansion. This figure represents the brand’s annual growth target, not the number of openings already completed.

Şener said the reason for this approach was to maintain the same quality, service standards and brand experience at every new branch. The investment ambitions for both sides of Istanbul therefore sit alongside a commitment to a measured pace, rather than an unrestricted opening programme. Joint investment and controlled branch expansion are complementary elements of the plan the brand has outlined.

Practical takeaway: Entrepreneurs considering a partnership with Pizza Italiante should look beyond location in their initial discussions. Before investing, they should clarify the brand’s capital contribution, the terms of its equity stake, decision-making authority and how operational responsibilities will be shared.