Civerinos to open in West End: “Glasgow has a love affair with pizza and I’m excited to be part of it”

The team at Civerinos - the popular Edinburgh pizza brand - has begun work on its new Glasgow venue. Owner Michele Civiera has now kicked-off a £500,000 renovation of a unit on Radnor Street West End which was previously home to Le Petit Conchon, close to Kelvingrove Park.

Michele opened Civerinos original Italian-dining room venue at Hunter Square, just by Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, with the sale of his rare sneaker collection and car. In the eight years since, the venture has gone from strength to strength with three venues inspired by NY pizza joints on Forrest Road, Portobello Promenade and in Corstorphine.

But “that counts for nothing” according to the Italian-born restaurateur. He said: “I’m proud of what we’ve built in Edinburgh, but that counts for nothing. When we open in Glasgow in September, it will be day one all over again. We’re starting from scratch; I’m treating this like it’s my first business. “I fell in love with NY-style pizza when I lived and worked in New York. I love Paesano, Baked, Errol’s, the West Side Tavern, Celinos and so many others.

“Glasgow has a love affair with pizza and I’m excited to be part of it. The food scene in general is incredible and there’s a buzz about the city.” This is the first in an expansion drive for the growing firm, with plans in the works to open two more restaurants in Glasgow’s Southside and city centre, and eventually in every student city and town in the UK. More than 30 jobs will be created with the opening of the first Civerinos in Glasgow’s West End in September, with plans to create 100 in total.

The group has also invested in a production kitchen, training academy and creative studio. He added: “I want to be the boss I always wanted to have. Hospitality is an amazing career but it’s been given a bad name - we want to be part of the solution. We’re working extremely hard to be as good, and fair as we can possibly be, while providing a destination for people to build exciting, fulfilling careers within a growing business. “Our production kitchen makes everything tick. It provides support for units and takes hours out of the kitchens, which makes for happy chefs, while our training academy creates homegrown talent - something all the more crucial since Brexit.

“Our creative studio is like a Google HQ for independent food businesses, making the best pizza related content for us and our friends in the industry. It’s an exciting place to be. Hospitality is such a great career, you get to meet so many people, and serve them great food which makes them happy. As we expand it will become evermore important to maintain our values of respect, fair pay, fair working hours and fun.”

In 2021, the brand moved beyond pizza, launching a collaborative beer with Brewgooder. It has previously been dubbed the “coolest place to eat in Edinburgh” by GQ. It’s also been listed among the top 20 pizzas in the world. The new venue is set to maintain the brand’s New York club room meets subway aesthetic. Michele continued: “If you’ve visited us before, you’ll know what to expect - if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. Just like in Edinburgh you’ll be served massive tasty slices by good people with a playlist full of 80s and 90s hiphop.

“We’ll be here for a long time and this is just the first of our Glasgow venues. We want to become part of the city straight away and we are excited to collaborate with other businesses, groups and individuals on things that will have a positive impact on the community.”

Civerinos will begin recruiting in Glasgow next month. For more information visit the Civerinos website.