Franco Manca closures signal sourdough pizza hype may be fading

Franco Manca’s latest shake-up is more than a chain story. It is a warning sign for anyone paying premium prices for sourdough pizza: if the base turns soggy, oily or flat, the dough story is already breaking down.

The company is reportedly closing around 16 restaurants in a restructuring that puts about 225 jobs at risk, with The Fulham Shore blaming disproportionately high UK taxes and rising costs. The estate still stands at about 70 sites across the UK, but the contraction lands awkwardly for a brand that built its reputation on slow-rising sourdough and daily-made dough. Tripadvisor reviews visible in search results have already been flagging soggy and oily pizzas at several branches, the kind of complaints that cut straight through any premium branding.

That matters because Franco Manca has long sold a very specific promise. The chain says it first opened in Brixton Market in 2008 and that it has been pioneering sourdough pizza in the UK ever since. Its own FAQs say the dough is made fresh in its pizzerias every day from sea salt, water, type 0 flour made with regenerative wheat from Wildfarmed and a sourdough starter, with no added yeast. The menu says the dough is proved for 24 hours. In sourdough terms, that should translate into a base with some lift, a clean tang and enough structure to hold up under heat and toppings.

When that goes wrong, the signs are easy to spot. A true sourdough pizza should come out with a crisp edge, a base that is set through rather than wet at the centre, and a light chew instead of a heavy, doughy bite. If the crust goes greasy, the middle slumps or the bottom steams into a soft layer, fermentation, proofing or oven handling has slipped. That is the difference between slow-rising dough and a soggy imitation wearing a premium label.

The pressure on the brand is not new. Franco Manca’s original Brixton Market site closed in 2023 after 15 years, even as the chain expanded nationally. It still sells cook-at-home pizzas through Tesco and offers delivery through Uber Eats and Deliveroo, showing that demand for sourdough pizza has not disappeared. But the closures suggest the hype around the restaurant format may be cooling, even if the wider sourdough market is still being treated as a growth category.