Krishna Gupta: Saying cheese, with 1441 Pizzeria

Krishna Gupta | 27
Founder, 1441 Pizzeria

In Florence, Italy, there was a 40-50-minute waiting period outside a non-descript pizza place for a 7 euros-a-pie pizza in 2013. Krishna Gupta, founder of 1441 Pizzeria, claims it was the best he’d ever had. “It was made in a wood oven, had great ingredients, and was cheap… it inspired me to bring the experience home,” he says. 

1441 Pizzeria—1441 stands for 14° East and 41° North, the coordinates of Naples—was launched in 2014 (the first outlet opened in 2016). It houses wood-ovens designed by an Italian designer, and some of the ingredients are imported from Italy. The eatery, which recently opened its 20th outlet—it operates in Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad—stands out for its ‘Make Your Own Pizza’ (MYOP) offering, where customers can add unlimited toppings at no added cost. While the margins on the MYOP are low, at 25 percent, they are higher for the fixed pizzas. In 2016-17, 1441 Pizzeria posted revenues of ₹3.88 crore, which grew to ₹8.41 crore in 2019. It estimates revenues of ₹11.11 crore in 2020. 1441 Pizzeria has reached break-even store-wise and Gupta expects the business to do so in 3-4 months.

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Vicky Ratnani, chef and culinary director at Gourmet Investments Private Limited, says, “It’s not a mass producing pizza factory… it uses quality ingredients and the flavours are good.”