Foodation: rethinking fast food in Italy

Foodation: rethinking fast food in Italy

Foodation is an Italian start-up founded by Campania-born Riccardo Cortese and Sardinian Federico Pinna that’s all about fast casual dining with an international vibe. In Florence, a short distance from piazza della Repubblica, you probably already know Briscola – Pizza Society, a contemporary black-and-white

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Thu 14 Jan 2016 1:00 AM

Foodation is an Italian start-up founded by Campania-born Riccardo Cortese and Sardinian Federico Pinna that’s all about fast casual dining with an international vibe. In Florence, a short distance from piazza della Repubblica, you probably already know Briscola – Pizza Society, a contemporary black-and-white pizzeria, with its next-door neighbour Macinata – Sarti di Burger. Both are just two of Foodation’s concepts that are taking Italy by culinary storm.

 

How did Foodation come about? ‘More than three years ago, after a spell of travelling, Federico and I realized that we both liked the single-product dining format that’s so popular abroad. So we decided to combine this Anglo-Saxon style with traditional Italian family-run management. Our idea is to develop an informal food chain, in which “Italianness” is found in the details and quality of the product,’ commented Riccardo, passionate about the project.

 

That same passion is clear at Briscola, where pizza lovers are immediately won over by the quality. Made from selected flours, the easily digestible dough base benefits from a three-stage leavening process. Part 1: stagliatura, the dough is divided into little balls and left to rest at room temperature for 12 hours. Part 2: the meditation room, the dough balls are moved into a controlled temperature environment to slow down the yeast to the same pace as the fermentation for up to 24 hours. Part 3: reawakening, the dough returns to room temperature for a couple of hours.

 

Briscola diners can choose between two winning formulas. Try out #pizzaprofile to personalize your classic 30-cm pizza, opting for a tomato, cheese or margherita base using the best quality fiordilatte cheese from Campania and San Marzano tomatoes before picking your preferred toppings. If you’re in the mood for something new, plumb for #pizzasharing, which gives you the chance to try some of Briscola’s house toppings on a pair of 20-cm pizza. (The Florentine’s editors are particularly partial to Pere (pears, gorgonzola and walnuts), Carrettiera (provola, friarielle greens and Norcia sausage) and Briscola (cherry tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella and prosciutto).

 

Next door, at Macinata, the burgers are tailor made to your tastes, with whopping one million topping combos. Choose Irish Black Angus, Bavarian or Uruguayian beef (there’s a veggie option too) and your burger size, then add guacamole or radicchio spread, bacon or porcini mushrooms. Refined palates can even opt for truffle cream or foie gras. Only the finest freshest meat is used, minced every day using chilled grinders to ensure that the essential qualities of the beef remains unchanged. No extra fat is added and the burgers are cooked to perfection on induction grills to keep the meat juicy and super healthy.

 

That’s not all. Foodation has two other casual fast food concepts in its ever growing portfolio: in Milan, Mariù, serving an Italian take on the gastronomic kebab, and in Milan, Rome and Busto Arsizio, Burbee – artisanal burger & beer, offering hamburgers in a beer house setting. What next? Riccardo: ‘We will continue to expand in Italy, but we’re also planning European development in 2016. After all, we know that “Italianness” is often a winning factor abroad.’

 

Briscola was voted Best Pizzeria in Italy 2015 by the readers of Gastronauta, the food section of Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore.

 

Briscola – Pizza Society / Macinata – Sarti di Burger

Via del Campidoglio 8R/12R, Florence

Open every day at lunch and dinner

055 2381990

www.briscolapizza.it / www.macinata.it

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