Big Mamma (company)

Big Mamma

La Felicità
Company type	Société par actions simplifiée
Industry	Restaurants
Founded	2015 (2015)
Founders	Victor Lugger and Tigrane Seydoux
Headquarters	Paris , France
Number of locations	23 restaurants (2023)
Area served	Europe
Key people	Victor Lugger and Tigrane Seydoux
Number of employees	(2000)
Website	bigmammagroup.com

Big Mamma is a French restaurant chain specializing in Italian cuisine and founded in 2015 in Paris by entrepreneurs Victor Lugger and Tigrane Seydoux. In 2021, the group has 17 restaurants in France, United Kingdom, Spain and Monaco.

History

The Big Mamma Group company was created in 2015 by entrepreneurs Victor Lugger and Tigrane Seydoux, who met at HEC Paris, with the help of private investors including Xavier Niel and Stéphane Courbit.

The concept saw the opening of seven restaurants in three years. Due to the lack of a reservation system, long queues of customers formed outside the restaurants and thus distinguished them from other restaurant brands.

In 2018, the group moved to the Station F campus created by Xavier Niel: its restaurant La Felicità occupies 4,500 m2 of space for 7 different catering points, including a cafeteria open 24/7. At the time, the group sold nearly 8,000 meals per day, compared to 4,000 the year before.

In February 2019, the group exported abroad, with the opening of two restaurants in London. At that time, he employed around 1,000 employees in Paris, and the London restaurant used 180 different producers, with some products being shipped from Italy to London in less than 36 hours.

In 2022, the group had 2,000 employees. In 2023, the English investment fund McWin bought Big Mama, becoming its majority shareholder; Lugger and Seydoux remained minority shareholders and co-CEOs, while the historical investors (including Niel and Courbit) took the opportunity to sell all their shares to McWin.

Concept

Big Mamma restaurants base their sales concept on highlighting the artisanal origin of their Italian suppliers. The group asks restaurant staff to speak Italian to customers.

In the French restaurant landscape, the company's success has aroused hostility; some compare it to a "soulless" marketing initiative.

Locations

By the end of 2023, the group will manage 23 restaurants in Europe (France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Monaco and the United Kingdom), including La Felicità in Paris.

Distinction

In November 2017, the two founders Victor Lugger and Tigrane Seydoux received the "entrepreneurs of the year" award from the Gault Millau gastronomic guide.