Crosta & Mollica

The company and products

Established in 2010, Crosta & Mollica is a fast-growing, UK-based, premium Italian foods brand. It has identified a gap in the market across various savoury Italian categories – such as pizza, breadsticks, amaretti, jams and spreads, ready-meals, etc. – where there is frequent purchase and a large market size, but poor-quality branded and private-label incumbents. The high quality of its authentic Italian products has created a loyal customer base.

Crosta & Mollica’s products are stocked in all major UK supermarkets and in Europe. It has plans to expand into new territories and develop new products.

The transaction

Crosta & Mollica was acquired by private equity firm Perwyn in January 2024. Perwyn will support international expansion and deeper penetration in existing markets. Through our relationship with Perwyn, Connection Capital clients were able to invest in this private equity opportunity in multiples of £25k. 

Our investment rationale

The UK pre-packaged pizza market is estimated to be worth c.£1.6bn of sales per annum, but the premium end of the market is dominated by private label offerings, with limited branded competition in this segment. The company therefore has a substantial organic growth opportunity in its core UK market and internationally. Its growth to date is extremely impressive.

Lead investor, Perwyn, has a strong track record of investment in this sector and has successfully grown and internationalised other branded food businesses. Perwyn also strengthened the company’s leadership through a new Executive Chair and CFO, both of whom have experience of running PE-backed businesses and have worked together previously.