Big-ger Mamma: What the riotous restaurant group plans to do next

Jacuzzi is one of five London restaurants opened by the Big Mamma Group since 2019. Its first, Gloria in Shoreditch, is a wildly over-the-top Italian trattoria that had Londoners queuing for hours to splash their visit all over Instagram. With its huge plants, doily-covered tables, statues of the Virgin Mary and kitsch plates decorating the walls, the design felt half-luxurious, half-inspired by the home of an Italian grandmother, and set the template for what was to come, which were four restaurants with their own unique quirks. Think framed Speedos, two-way toilet mirrors and a neon cock and balls over the entrance.

It may not be to everyone's taste but, in short, it's supposed to be fun.

Big Mamma was founded in Paris in 2013 by Victor Lugger and Tigrane Seydoux, two entrepreneurs who met at HEC Paris business school. The brand has since grown to 22 restaurants across France, the UK, Spain, Germany and Monaco, and the pair's success has earned them many accolades, including the Restaurateur of the Year Catey in 2023. Lugger is now based in London, while Seydoux lives in Madrid and the pair criss-cross Europe to keep up with their international portfolio. The 23rd Big Mamma site, and the first in Italy, launched in Milan last week (more on that later).

Despite its success, Big Mamma has not been without its detractors. In the UK, the Evening Standard's food critic Jimi Famurewa described Ave Mario in Covent Garden as "a touch Nonna's Gone to Iceland" while Giles Coren in the Times likened Fitzrovia's Circolo Popolare to a "gigantic explosion in a florist" filled with influencers. But the restaurants remain full and there are no plans to curb the opening pipeline. In September, private equity firm McWin – which also backs bakery chain Gail's, German pizza and pasta chain L'Osteria and hospitality incubator White Rabbit Projects – took a majority stake in Big Mamma. The deal valued the company at £234m or roughly £10m for each of its 23 restaurants.

Speaking from his home in London, Lugger says the team is used to being underestimated. "Every time we've opened, we've questioned ourselves," he explains. "When we went to Lyon, everyone told us, ‘oh, maybe it works in Paris, but Lyon is a very specific city, the people like local restaurants'. Then we went to Bordeaux and were told the same, and in Marseille.

"Everyone said, ‘you're going into one of the most traditional sections of hospitality, which is Italian restaurants, and on top of that, you're not then going into some smart new quick-service concept, you're going into the trattoria model, which has existed for hundreds of years across Italy and Europe'. So, there's plenty of competition.

"But eventually, everywhere we went, the outcome was the same. If we do good, cheap food served with a smile in a beautiful set-up with a nice design, it will always be full. Anywhere in the world, anytime and anyhow."

The power of social media

Clearly the restaurants have struck a chord, and Lugger describes Londoners as the most "party vibey and excited" customers across the countries Big Mamma trades in. Its dishes, which have names like Sex Bomb-ette and the Chocogasm Mousse, have been a hit on social media. Even if you haven't been to the restaurants, you've likely seen clips of the giant pizzas, the carbonara served from a wheel of creamy pecorino cheese, the huge slabs of tiramisu generously dolloped out tableside, and the chocolate tart sat on a dish entirely coated in cream.

The idea of authenticity is important to Big Mamma, and the group works with 200 small producers across Italy to source its ingredients. While Lugger mentions a £30 per head average spend in some restaurants, the bill can easily creep higher. Bottles of wine start from around £30 but the top end of the list veers up to £475, and a plate of pasta can range between £16 and the £36 mark. Most generous are the desserts – one serving of the £7.50 tiramisu could easily feed two or three people.

"We really try to be the best value for money we can," explains Lugger. "Can you find more refined Italian food? Yes, of course. There are Michelin-starred restaurants and the River Café [in London], but we have never compromised on cooking things with a very Italian taste and authenticity. We have not anglicised any recipes and it's the same in France."

The theatrical nature of the dishes, many of which are served tableside to create that perfect social media moment, has proved a savvy marketing tool. The @bigmamma.uk Instagram account has 250,000 followers and a reel of the creation of its wobbling cheesecake has more than 74,000 likes. On TikTok, more than 55,000 people have watched the same clip and the group's top pinned post, a jokey video showing a diner stealing their partners' dessert, has 16.8 million views. However, Lugger insists the key is in design.

"No one fills a restaurant for more than two months based on smashing social media and bad product," he says. "Gloria, the first London restaurant we opened, has never been as packed as it is this year, which is five years after opening. It's not about social media, it's about design and experience. I was in a Michelin-starred restaurant the other day and the food was served on a very plain white plate. OK, thank you, that's a £3 plate. It's great, it's not about the money, but when it comes to the table, I'm not thinking ‘wow, that's exciting'.

"When you design a place that creates a lot of emotion in guests, what happens in 2023? You take a picture of it. But I don't create beautiful design or buy £40 beautiful plates that I have to replace every other month because I want to be on social media. I do it because I want my guest to feel like they're having a very special time."

While he won't be drawn on exactly how much Big Mamma spends on its restaurant fit-outs, Lugger admits it's "definitely millions". The group created an in-house design studio five years ago which works with chefs and the front of house teams to research and come up with ideas and has since created 17 restaurants.

Selling Italian food to Italians

While the idea of two Frenchmen trying to sell Italian food to Italians may raise eyebrows, the team were optimistic ahead of the launch of their first Milan restaurant. Lugger believes Big Mamma can offer something unique to the city.

"Maybe there is something we can bring to Milan that's a little new and will not just be déjà vu," he explains. "Maybe there is a story we can tell that will not be like any other restaurants. There are not many people making quirky, funny, high-octane restaurants with very authentic food. In Milan, you have700 little trattorias with cheap, delicious food, and then you have 10 high-end restaurants that mostly give you the same experience. There are a few international restaurants doing sushi or whatever, but if you want an Italian meal in a crazy, modern vibe, there is no such thing."

The Milanese Gloria will be pitched as slightly more premium and elegant than the rest of the group, while keeping the typical Big Mamma DNA. It will seat 225 covers and is inspired by a "glamorous, opulent villa from the mid-1960s", with chandeliers and striped gold and white marble flooring.

Opening in Milan has been on the team's radar for some time. Big Mamma set up an office in the city seven years ago as a base for all of its HR operations. Of the 2,500 staff across the group, 80% are Italian and many are recruited directly from the country though links with culinary schools. Its network of 200 Italian producers has been widened to include more premium products for the local opening and the price point will be slightly higher than in other countries. "The reality is we've been in Milan for a long time," says Seydoux during a call from his home in Madrid. "We have an office in Italy, I got married in Italy, we travel in Italy every month. We had the staff, the product, the network and the recruitment – opening a restaurant was the only part missing."

New sites for Big Mamma

In fact, the Milan opening could be the first of many new sites for Big Mamma following its deal with McWin. The founders launched the company with a coalition of investors back in 2013 but sought to replace them with one large backer as it continued to grow. Seydoux insists he and Lugger have not sold the company and the pair continue to run the business as CEOs and shareholders. He likens the partnership to a wedding and says McWin was a good match due to its background growing other brands.

"When you get married you have to share the same level of vision and ambition as well as culture and values. We are totally aligned and our ambitions are the same – we're just pushing [Big Mamma] a step further and higher and bigger. We want to capitalise geographically on what we've built," says Seydoux.

This could see Big Mamma expand further in Europe, and there are plans to launch in Dubai and the US. Seydoux also sees potential for more restaurants in the UK, which he says has become the group's first de facto headquarters.

"We think we have space in London to open more projects," he adds. "How many? I really cannot say. We think more by opportunity and what we can bring to the neighbourhood. We can do more experiences and more premium restaurants in some specific locations, and we have a lot of ideas about that.

"I can't share precise stuff, but the ambition is to go beyond London. We believe the UK's great and if you do [things well there] it's worthwhile, even with Brexit and all the shitty stuff everywhere in Europe has suffered the last few years. We still think the UK is strong and a fantastic country for us. Manchester is a city where we'd look at some projects. I was there two weeks ago to get a feel of the vibe and test the restaurants and it's a great city."

With private equity backing, a cynic could wonder if an eventual exit could be on the cards for Big Mamma's two founders, but on this point, Seydoux is clear. "We will never sell Big Mamma," he insists. "It's a lifetime adventure for both of us."

Big Mamma's B-Corp journey

In 2018, Big Mamma was one of the first hospitality groups in Europe to become a certified B Corp, which verifies companies as being a ‘force for good'.

To gain the accreditation, businesses must undergo a thorough audit of everything from their social and environmental impact to public transparency and receive a score of at least 80.

"Our mission is not really to serve pizza or pasta or cocktails," says Seydoux. "The world will continue if we don't. The goal is to change people's lives with Italian food. How do we use the Big Mamma ecosystem to help people learn, train, grow and change their lives?"

Staff development is a big focus for the group. One of its chief operating officers started as a waiter in its restaurants eight years ago and is now in charge of 2,500 people. A dishwasher in one of its Paris sites is now head of pizza at its La Felicita food market in the city, managing a team of 50 people serving more than 1,000 pizzas a day.

Big Mamma's B Corp score was 81 in 2018 and, when it was recertified in 2023 after tripling the size of the company, it scored 96.5.

"You can go big but you can go green at the same time," says Seydoux. "Growth doesn't mean that you have to lower the quality and take less care of people – we did exactly the contrary."