Roberto Costa says his Osteria Number 8 restaurant will serve simple, less well-known Italian dishes, the majority of which will be based on home-style recipes from towns and villages rather than the big cities. Average spend is expected to be under £20.
Costa – who currently runs three Macellaio restaurants in South Kensington, Exmouth Market and Southwark – is already looking at possible sites in locations including Camberwell, Peckham and East Dulwich and expects to open his first Osteria Number 8 this year.
“It will be a convivial neighbourhood Italian restaurant, the sort of place you’d have a quick meal at on a weekday evening,” says Costa. “It will be a typical osteria offering home made pasta and simple meat dishes.”
The food at Osteria Number 8 will be overseen by Macellaio group executive chef Matteo Riganelli.
He suggested that the new concept is likely to become his company’s growth brand with a growth rate of one a year planned for its core brand over the next few years, funded entirely by organic growth.
“We don’t want to be a chain,” Costa said. “Besides, if we got much bigger our beef supplier would struggle to keep up. We’re getting through about 1,000kg a week as it is. Each Macellaio restaurant will have a different speciality. For our next Macellaio we’ll probably explore charcuterie.”
He said that this year would not see the opening of another Macellaio in London because the group is close to securing a site in Milan.
Read our Business Profile of Macellaio in this month's Restaurant Magazine.