Kotipizza Oyj is the largest

pizza Pizza (, ) is a dish of Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (such as various types of sausage, anchovies, mushrooms, onions ...

restaurant chain A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...

in the

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; literal translation, lit. 'the North') are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmar ...

. ' is

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

and translates as "home". Kotipizza is part of Kotipizza Group, and it operates a chain of pizza franchises in Finland. In 2021, there were 290 Kotipizza restaurants in Finland. Its head office is in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

History

Kotipizza was founded in 1987 by Rabbe Grönblom in

Vaasa Vaasa (; sv, Vasa, , Sweden ), in the years 1855–1917 as Nikolainkaupunki ( sv, Nikolajstad; literally meaning "city of Nicholas),

, Finland. In 1992 there were 100 Kotipizza restaurants. In 1995, a shop-in-shop concept that reduced the start-up costs of a new location was taken into use together with the

Neste Oil Neste Oyj (international name: Neste Corporation; former names Neste Oil Corporation and Fortum Oil and Gas Oy) is an oil refining and marketing company located in Espoo, Finland. It produces, refines and markets oil products, provides eng ...

service station chain. By 1996 there were 200 Kotipizza restaurants. In the 21st century Kotipizza's motto was ''"Pizza, Love & Understanding"''. In 2008, Grönblom's family company sold the majority of Kotipizza to a company founded by Kotipizza employees. Next year, Kotipizza started a cooperation with the Teboil service station chain. By the end of 2010, the Kotipizza chain constituted some 281 restaurants in over 130 municipalities. The most northern Kotipizza restaurant in Finland was located in

Karigasniemi Karigasniemi ( se, Gáregasnjárga) is a village in the municipality of Utsjoki in Finland. It lies at the foot of Mount Ailigás. The village is situated on the border between Norway and Finland south-east of the Norwegian village of Karasjo ...

in the municipality of

Utsjoki Utsjoki (; sme, Ohcejohka ; smn, Uccjuuhâ; sms, Uccjokk; no, Utsjok) is a municipality in Finland, the northernmost in the country. It is in Lapland and borders Norway as well as the municipality of Inari. The municipality was founded in 187 ...

. In 2011, Grönblom returned as the chief shareholder of the company, but by August 2011, he had already sold three quarters of his shares in Kotipizza to Finnish private equity company Sentica Partners and remained a minority shareholder, with a one-fifth share, of the company. In 2012 Tommi Tervanen became the CEO of Kotipizza and began renewing the chain. The restaurants’ interior design was updated, and the origin of ingredients was highlighted more than before. The overall revenue of the Kotipizza restaurant chain was 72 million

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

. Over 95% of the Kotipizza restaurants in

were operated by francisees. In addition to Finland, Kotipizza restaurants were found in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

and in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Suzhou Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...

, near

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

. In 2014, Grönblom handed over the ownership of the company completely. In the financial year 2016, the total sales of Kotipizza restaurants amounted to EUR 90 million with net sales of EUR 67 million. In December 2017, the Kotipizza chain's monthly sales exceeded EUR 10 million for the first time. In April 2018, the same-store sales of comparable Kotipizza restaurants (240 restaurants) had increased for 37 months in a row. The number of restaurants stood at 260. In November 2018 European food manufacturer

Orkla Orkla may refer to: Places * Orkla (river), a river in Trøndelag county, Norway Business * Orkla Group (or ''Orkla ASA''), a large Norwegian company * Orkla Mining Company, a historic company in Norway * Orkla Metall, a former smelting company ...

announced that it will acquire Kotipizza's owner, Kotipizza Group. In 2020 Kotipizza’s overall revenue was 151 million euros, 13.6% more than in the previous year. The growth was generated by increased online sales and home delivery. Over 40 % of all transactions happened via the chain’s online store. In February 2021, online sales amounted to 45 % of Kotipizza’s total sales. In 2021 Heidi Stirkkinen became the CEO of Kotipizza.

Business

In 2021, Kotipizza operated only in Finland, and all 290 restaurants were run by franchisees. Some restaurants offer delivery and accept online or phone orders. The home delivery restaurants utilise the home delivery concept created in cooperation with the chain's franchisees. Built-in heat boxes in delivery vehicles keep pizzas at 60 degrees Celsius even for an hour.

Products

In 2016, 62 per cent of all ingredients used at Kotipizza restaurants came from Finland. For instance, the million kilograms of cheese used by the chain was acquired from 70

Valio Valio Ltd ( fi, Valio Oy) is a Finnish manufacturer of dairy products and one of the largest companies in Finland. Valio's products include cheese, powdered ingredients, butter, yogurt and milk. It is Finland's largest milk processor, producing 8 ...

dairy farms located in the area of

Lapinlahti Lapinlahti (; sv, Lapinlahti, also ) is a municipality of Finland. It is part of the Northern Savonia region, located north of the city of Kuopio. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The populatio ...

, Finland. In 2014, the most popular pizza of the Kotipizza chain was Perfetta, for which four pizza toppings are picked freely. The second most popular pizza was Special Opera, a pizza with ham, salami and tuna. The third most popular pizza was Americana, which includes Aura cheese, ham and

pineapple The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centuri ...

. Furthermore, Tropicana, Kotzone Chicken (i.e. a folded pizza base with salad and other toppings), Opera, Quattro Stagioni, Bolognese, Mexicana and Burger were among the top 10 products. In 2018, the top 10 most sold products via Kotipizza's online store were Perfetta, Custom Monster, Special Opera, Americana, Kotzone Chicken, Tropicana, Custom Kotzone, Meat Master, Quattro Stagioni and Texas Monster. Monster is a product developed by Kotipizza which includes dough sticks on a pizza. In the Helsinki metropolitan area and in larger cities, Kotipizza sold significantly more

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism m ...

pizzas and toppings (such as

Härkis Härkis is the brand name of processed vicia faba, fava beans by the Finland, Finnish company Verso Food. Härkis is a vegetable protein product, whose product consists of Finnish fava beans and pea protein. Härkis is ready to eat out of the box ...

bean protein and

falafel Falafel (; ar, فلافل, ) is a deep-fried ball or patty-shaped fritter in Middle Eastern cuisine (especially in Levantine and Egyptian cuisines) made from ground chickpeas, broad beans, or both. Nowadays, falafel is often served in a p ...

) than anywhere else in Finland. In 2019, the most popular toppings ordered via Kotipizza’s online store were pineapple, ham, pepperoni and blue cheese.

Pizza Berlusconi

''Pizza Berlusconi'' is Kotipizza's product name for a pizza with smoked

reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

tomato sauce Tomato sauce (also known as ''salsa roja'' in Spanish or ''salsa di pomodoro'' in Italian) can refer to many different sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish, rather than as a condiment. Tomato sauces are c ...

cheese Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During production, ...

chanterelle Chanterelle is the common name of several species of fungi in the genera '' Cantharellus'', '' Craterellus'', '' Gomphus'', and ''Polyozellus''. They are among the most popular of wild edible mushrooms. They are orange, yellow or white, meaty a ...

mushrooms and

red onion Red onions (also known as purple or blue onions in some mainland European countries, though not the UK) are cultivars of the onion (''Allium cepa''), and have purplish-red skin and white flesh tinged with red. They are most commonly used in co ...

. Kotipizza named the pizza after

Italian Prime Minister The Prime Minister of Italy, officially the President of the Council of Ministers ( it, link=no, Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri), is the head of government of the Italian Republic. The office of president of the Council of Ministers is ...

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies ...

in their summer 2008 ad campaign and menu. Berlusconi had caused a minor

diplomatic incident {{Refimprove, date=December 2011 An international incident (or diplomatic incident) is a seemingly relatively small or limited action, incident or clash that results in a wider dispute between two or more nation-states. International incidents can ...

in 2005, when he said that he had had to "endure"

Finnish cuisine Finnish cuisine is notable for generally combining traditional country fare and ''haute cuisine'' with contemporary continental style cooking. Fish and meat (usually pork, beef or reindeer) play a prominent role in traditional Finnish dishes in ...

, and joked disparagingly about Finns eating "marinated

". Although marinated reindeer is a common dish in Lapland, in the rest of Finland the meat is traditionally stewed or dried.

Recognition

*Kotipizza has been chosen as the best franchising chain of the year in 1992, 2009 and 2017. *In 2017, the Kotipizza chain received the MSC ecolabel, confirming that all fish and seafood served by the chain come from sustainable sources and certified fisheries. Kotipizza was the first pizza chain in the world to be licensed to use the label. Products with the MSC ecolabel are guaranteed to have been responsibly caught by a certified sustainable fishery. *With Pizza Berlusconi, Kotipizza won the America's Plate International pizza contest in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in March 2008, beating the

Italian-American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, w ...

s, who came in second place, and the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

ns in third.

References

External links

* *
Official home delivery site
* D'Agosta, Alex. Translation to English by Giles Watson
Reindeer Pizza Named after Berlusconi
" ''

Corriere della Sera The ''Corriere della Sera'' (; en, "Evening Courier") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Milan with an average daily circulation of 410,242 copies in December 2015. First published on 5 March 1876, ''Corriere della Sera'' is one of It ...

''. 13 June 2008. * D'Agosta, Alex.
Pizza alla renna, Berlusconi 'testimonial'
" ''

''. 11 June 2008. Last modified 12 June 2008. {{Pizza chains Companies based in Helsinki Restaurant chains in Finland Regional restaurant chains Pizza franchises Restaurants established in 1987 Finnish companies established in 1987