Barrel & Stone pub pizza brand poised for massive expansion

The company, which installs branded pizza outfits in pubs across the UK, currently operates in 45 pubs across the UK and has agreed to enter five more in the last week alone.

Russell Hardiman, co-founder of Barrel & Stone, told The Morning Advertiser ​Barrel & Stone was on track to operate in 75 to 85 pubs by May 2017.

Growing market

He said: “[The concept] works well because it is zero-entry, cost wise. The market is obviously growing massively – pizza is on-trend, and it de-skills the kitchens.

“We looked at how Uber and Airbnb were building their businesses and it was very much about keeping it easy and simplistic. We can open a site with two weeks’ lead time in four hours.

“We have really honed our model so we can be as efficient as possible – we’re opening eight sites in Scotland in two days next week.”

Stand-alone site

Barrel & Stone was also in talks with one customer to open a stand-alone site solely serving pizza and craft beers, he added.

“We’re giving people an opportunity to take on a brand that’s already been developed – we give them the support of the website, the marketing and the product innovation that we’re very heavily involved in.

“We change the menus to offer very exciting and different pizzas, we go to Italy, we look at the food, we try to find interesting offerings that we bring back and test then we give that to our pub partners.”