Gigi Pizzeria: The plant-based pizza with the Neapolitan seal of approval

“I will never forget that night because it was the most stressful night ever.”

“It was like, hell, and I remember all the Uber Eats orders were coming through and I would literally go and add the order manually in the POS.

That was 2020, a period of uncertainness and turmoil in the hospitality industry. In its own twisted way, Gigi’s was one of the lucky ones. They had a loyal customer base thanks to an incredible offering.

But such trade doesn’t come overnight. Gigi’s journey from humble beginnings to Sydney pizza royalty has been 15 years in the making.

We sat down with Gigi Pizzeria Co-owner David Musumeci to talk about Gigi’s incredible story.

Certified pioneers in the plant-based community

Gigi Pizzeria started in 2008 with an ace already up their sleeve: AVPN (Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana) certification. In short, if you were in search of a Sydney pizza on-par with their Neapolitan counterparts, Gigi had you covered.

But an AVPN certificate doesn’t mean you can’t do things a little different —far from it— and change was on the way. A switch to an entirely plant-based menu at a time when there were lines out the door was a risky move, but it’s one that has proven its worth and cemented Gigi as not only a destination for pizza-lovers, but a new institution in Sydney’s growing plant-based restaurant scene.

“Marco started Gigi around 2008 and made a very successful brand, and at that point, it wasn’t plant-based. He had a very successful restaurant, with a line out the door and he was doing really, really well.”

“Everyone thought he was crazy.”

“And then I think around eight years ago, he went vegan. He changed his diet and he just felt that he could no longer continue Gigi the way it was. He wanted to change the menu and be 100% plant-based, and everyone thought he was crazy. Literally everyone said you’re gonna lose customers and go bust.”

“A lot of restaurants followed suit after that.”

“He was a pioneer, for sure. Everyone was against it, but he did it anyway and it worked. And ever since then it’s become one of the main institutions for plant-based cuisine. A lot of restaurants followed suit after that. So yeah, Gigi Pizzeria is definitely a pioneer in the plant-based community.”

Plant-based ingenuity — menu & products

A lot of you would be thinking that pivoting to a plant-based menu is a fairly straightforward process, right? It’s simply a case of sourcing the right substitutes and switching out an ingredient or two and you’re ready to roll.

Not Gigi’s.

Founder Marco took things to the next level. He created his own plant-based products, transforming humble nuts and seeds into ingredients so convincing that if you were told they were the product of sorcery, you’d be inclined to believe them.

“I had never tasted plant-based food like that. I tried it and I was blown away.”

“We have our own ricotta that we make from scratch. It’s made with cashew nuts and it’s amazing.”

“Our parmesan cheese comes from overseas and it’s made from coconut, but you can’t taste the coconut, obviously. We have alternative meats, you don’t feel like you’re missing out at all.”

But it’s not a restaurant exclusively for vegans. The team at Gigi’s wants the exact opposite. They see Gigi’s as a place where anybody, regardless of their diet, can come and enjoy an amazing meal, together.

No exclusions, no boundaries.

“We want everyone to come and eat at Gigi and realise that you don’t have to eat animal products to enjoy great food.”

“We want to appeal to people who aren’t vegan as well. We’re not just trying to get vegans to come and eat at Gigi. We want everyone to come and eat at Gigi and realise that you don’t have to eat animal products to enjoy great food. We can eat ethically without harming animals or the environment without missing out on an amazing culinary experience.

“That’s what we are about.”

Fresh investment — orders, staffing, pandemic

The lines out the door remained and, soon enough, Gigi was looking to grow and potential investors were sourced. One such investor was David, which brings us back to that fateful night from hell.

“How I, and my business partner Anthony fit into the picture, is we knew Marco and his sister from high school. That’s how far back we go. An opportunity arose where Marco wanted to expand, and through the connection that we had, we talked about it, and we decided to invest.”

“We really had to learn quickly because we literally invested 3 months before Covid.”

“I remember on the first Friday night of closure for the first lockdown. We just went light skeleton staff. We were not prepared for the amount of orders that came through.”

“It was like hell”

“I remember all the Uber Eats orders were coming through and I would literally go and add the order manually in the POS. I will never forget that night because it was the most stressful night ever.”

Looking to the future

As mentioned earlier, it takes a strong business with an even stronger brand to weather the Covid storm as Gigi’s did. And such success in the face of the industry’s overall failures is something that the crew at Gigi’s wants to take advantage of.

“We just have the one (location) at the moment, but we have the premises next door and we’re working out expansion plans into that space. We plan to start taking bookings on that side, private functions, etc.”

“We are also working on a site down south at a farm in Colo Vale where we’ll be able to hold larger parties and private functions, so there’s a lot going on.”

Looking to the future, it’s clear that bigger things are on the horizon for Gigi’s, and we can only hope that, this time, no global events hinder their progress because if their ambitions are anywhere near their previous success levels, then the Australian plant-based scene is in for a treat.

For the near future, customer demand remains strong for quick, convenient takeaway food options, and many consumers opt to order food straight from the restaurant – a promising change in behaviour for business owners.