Argentinian pizza and empanada chain lands on the Costa del Sol with opening of five new branches

Big Pizza has landed in Malaga province with three stores opening and two more set to open its doors in the coming months.

The Argentinian chain specialising in pizzas and empanadas - which in Argentina are eaten together - opened three stores in Malaga city (Calle Poeta Aurora de Albornoz, 5 and Puerto de la Torre), in Torremolinos (Avenida de Los Manantiales, 18) and in Benalmádena (Calle Luis Vives, 11). The two other stores will open in the Huelin area in Malaga city and in Fuengirola.

Big Pizza is a huge name in Argentina, where it has around 200 franchised outlets throughout the country. After the Covid-19 pandemic the company decided to jump the pond to Spain, where they already have 27 stores, and 30 more in the process of opening. The restaurant chain has a central kitchen in Madrid, from where they distribute all the frozen ready-made pizzas to other stores.

One of the business partners, Maximiliano Dubovsky, who has been working in the catering sector in his home country for 30 years, said they wanted to bring the traditional way of eating pizza alongside empanadas to Spain. He pointed out this unique way of eating pizza sets the chain apart from others such as Domino's, Telepizza or Malvon. "The combination of both products is very Argentinian; there the empanada is eaten as a starter to the pizza," Dubovsky said.

When Big Pizza first entered the Spanish market, it opened stores in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Malaga. Dubovsky pointed out Malaga province interests the chain "as it has a very interesting market in general, the climate helps a lot and it has a growing capital city". He said Malaga is already "one of the most important cities in Spain, and the whole area of the coast, from the city to Marbella, could easily reach 30 or 40 stores".

Big Pizza offers three sizes of pizza with two different preparations: stone-baked, which is the thin pizza, and mould-baked, which is the traditional Porteño pizza, "fatter but crispier at the base and spongy in the middle". Prices range from 2.30 euros for an empanada to 10.95 euros for a baked family pizza.