Pizza Pilgrims, the Neapolitan pizza chain that started on a London street market, has opened its first restaurant outside the UK, in Munich. The brand told Propel on 3 November 2026 that it aims to reach 100 sites across the UK and Germany by 2030, under the ownership of Munich-based restaurant group L’Osteria.
Brothers James and Thom Elliot founded Pizza Pilgrims in 2012. By the company’s own account, they travelled to Italy to learn pizza making, bought a three-wheeled Piaggio Ape in Naples and drove it around 4,500 kilometres back to London, where they first sold pizza on Berwick Street Market in Soho.
L’Osteria, a pizza and pasta restaurant group based in Munich and backed by McWin, took a majority stake in the business last year, according to Munich food blog Isarblog. Pizza Pilgrims’ own website says it serves pizza in its pizzerias and at events across the UK, and the company points to sixth place in a 2025 ranking of the world’s top 50 artisan pizza chains. None of these sources gives the current number of UK sites, a count no UK register holds either, unlike the figures brands publish across the UK franchise directory.
First German site opens in Schwabing
The Munich restaurant is at Leopoldstraße 56, in the Schwabing district. In October, the company gave 2 November 2026 as its opening date, and Isarblog reported a soft opening in the final days of that month. Two sources describe the next step differently.
According to Tageskarte, the company said a second Munich site would follow in the Tal in January 2027. Propel’s 3 November report says two further openings are lined up in the city, without giving dates, a pace of expansion matched by several restaurant franchises in the UK.
Two targets given three weeks apart
The brand has now set out two growth figures. In mid-October, Tageskarte reported a target of up to 50 sites in Germany, without a date. On 3 November, Propel reported an ambition of 100 sites across the UK and Germany by 2030.
The second figure covers both countries, but neither report says how the total would be split between them, or how many of the 100 already trade in the UK. Propel ran the story as an exclusive and as its story of the day on 3 November. Its full article is behind a subscription, and only its summary was available for this report.
What the reports leave open
None of the sources read for this article states how the new sites will be run, whether directly by the company or through partners, and Pizza Pilgrims’ own website does not describe a franchise offer. No investment figure, job count or UK site list has been published alongside the target.
A London brand with a Munich owner
The first site abroad is in the parent company’s home city. L’Osteria is based in Munich, and the British brand’s first German restaurant opened there. Isarblog reported that L’Osteria wants to establish Pizza Pilgrims as a further brand in Germany alongside its own restaurants.
For the UK estate, the announcement gives a 2030 horizon but no timetable for new British openings. Updates on the German sites and any UK openings would be the next markers of progress against the 100-site figure.
