Quadrivio and Capdesia acquire Alice Pizza, Italy's largest fast-casual pizza chain
Lifestyle Fund II, the private equity fund managed by Quadrivio & Pambianco, has joined European foodservice specialist Capdesia Group and a group of co-investors to acquire 100% of Alice Pizza.
The two firms are acting as co-lead sponsors and will work together to steer the next phase of the company’s growth at home and abroad.
The co-investor group includes Pergolesi, a vehicle owned by CVC Funds that controls Italian chain La Piadineria, and the parties have flagged that collaborations between Alice Pizza and La Piadineria may be explored in future.
On the other side of the table, the chain is being sold by Green Arrow Capital, formerly DeA Capital SGR, which held about 70% through its iDeA Taste of Italy Fund, alongside the founding Giovannini family, Luna, Lorenzo, and Domenico, who together held the remaining 30%.
Founded in Rome in 1989, Alice Pizza operates 231 sites, of which 220 are in Italy, concentrated in Rome and Milan, with a further 11 abroad spanning Hong Kong, France, Spain, Malta, and the US. Roughly half are directly managed and half franchised. In 2025 the business generated total system sales of more than €115m ($131m), including franchisee sales, and consolidated EBITDA of €12.6m ($14.3m), a 20% margin on net company revenues.
Capdesia co-founder and managing director H. Ashton Crosby argued the brand could upend incumbents, saying its quality, speed, and price point give Alice “the potential to disrupt the global legacy pizza players in the same way that Five Guys and Shake Shack disrupted burgers”. The plan is to push the format harder across Europe and Asia, with the US a potential target.
Walter Ricciotti, chief executive of Quadrivio Group, said the firms aimed “to accelerate the company’s growth path, through the expansion of the retail network and the strengthening of its international presence”, leaning on the chain’s scalable model and brand recognition. The Quadrivio team was led by Alessio Candi, partner at Lifestyle Fund II, and investment manager Flavio Ponticello.
The deal is the seventh investment for Lifestyle Fund II, whose portfolio already spans names such as sneaker brand Autry, womenswear label Twinset, and Roman restaurant chain Osteria Da Fortunata. London-based Capdesia, which invests exclusively in foodservice, brings holdings including GAIL’s, Wasabi, and sourdough pizza chain Franco Manca.