Fireaway Pizza founder honoured at business awards

Since its first branch opened in 2016, the pizza franchise has grown to have 130 stores across the UK

Mario Aleppo received the Food Entrepreneur of the Year Award at this year’s Great British Entrepreneur Awards. He was one of 98 entrepreneurs who walked away victorious amongst the 1,400 attendees gathered in London’s Grosvenor House.

This is the latest accolade Fireaway has acquired during its expansion, having won the Rising Star Pizza Chain of the Year at the 2021 PAPA Awards, and the Best Small Pizza Chain Award at the same ceremony in 2019.

Since its first branch opened in 2016, Fireaway has grown to have 130 stores across the UK and in 2022 expanded into Amsterdam and Northern Ireland.

Recently, the pizza franchise gained six additional investors, each taking 1 per cent of the business at the cost of £187,000 per share, valuing the brand at £18.7m.

This is the 10th year of the Great British Entrepreneur Awards, which started back in 2013. The programme, in partnership with Starling Bank, has recognised the UK’s most inspiring entrepreneurial success stories for a decade and developed a community-oriented network of alumni which grows year-on-year.

Mario said: “It’s a great honour for myself and Fireaway to be recognised for our hard work amongst so many great entrepreneurs. We’re really excited about the future. 2022 has been a great year for us and there’s so much more still to come.”