Piada Italian Street Food is looking for strategic growth partner

Pasta is a top seller at the fast-casual chain. Piada Italian Street Food

The 62-unit Piada Italian Street Food believes there’s room for 1,000 units across the country. The chain just needs a strategic partner to help it get there.

The Columbus, Ohio-based fast-casual chain said Tuesday it has hired Arlington Capital Advisors to pursue a strategic capital raise to fund a next stage of expansion. Private-equity firm L Catterton has invested since 2013 through a growth fund, but Chief Culinary Officer Matt Harding said such funds have limits.

Growth and expansion plans

“L Catterton has helped grow the company 10-fold since their investment,” he said. “They have been and continue to be amazing supporters of the brand.”

Harding, however, feels it’s the right time for Piada to step on the gas.

“We’re sitting on a powder keg of untapped opportunity,” he said.

Founded in 2010, the concept is known for its Italian-inspired menu built around the piada, a thin flatbread rolled with customizable fillings. The menu also includes salads, pastas and the to-go-friendly Piada Pockets launched last year.

Piada also is known for its Piada Sticks, which are dough sticks with pepperoni or parmesan. The chain is in the third year of offering a “Stickscription” program, in which guests can pay $30 to get one free Piada Stick and a fountain drink with the purchase of any adult entree every day. The program has roughly 1,800 members.

Menu and operations

Now operating in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Texas and North Carolina, Piada has long argued that it’s a unique concept with little competition in the fast-casual Italian niche. Growth of late has focused on building out Texas, with the brand opening in San Antonio about a month ago and a unit planned for Austin later this year.

All units are company owned, though Piada will dip its toe into a joint-venture partnership that will bring the brand to Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, Harding said.

The chain has seen 29 consecutive quarters of same-store sales growth, and traffic was positive in 2025, Harding said, though he declined to offer details.

Sales and unit growth

Piada ended 2025 with sales up nearly 10% to $135 million, with 61 units, a 7% increase over the prior year. The chain finished the year with an average unit volume of $2.3 million, according to the Top 500 Restaurant Chains by Technomic.

Harding said that AUV has ticked up to $2.4 million so far this year.

The company also is looking for opportunities to grow its people, he said.

“We have such a formidable group of leaders that need the opportunity to rise up and need a place for them in the organization,” said Harding.

“We feel like we’ve got the formula correct. We have the right people on the bus,” said Harding. “Now we’re looking at how we can move this forward at a quicker pace.”