Italian burger brand makes UK debut at John Lewis

Sister pizza brand Rossopomodoro will also open alongside the burger joint at the department store, creating a new social space and improving dining options for shoppers.

With four restaurants in Milan and Rome, Ham Holy Burgers focuses on fresh ingredients to create an Italian heritage gourmet burger menu.

Rossopomodoro already has eight sites in the UK, in London and Birmingham, for which it only hires pizzaioli from Naples and the surroundings. Having openined its first restaurant in Naples in 1999, the brand focuses on high-quality authentic ingredients for its pizzas – cooked to order in wood-fired brick ovens – and pasta – sourced from Gragnano in Italy’s Campania region.

Andrew Murphy, retail director at John Lewis, said: “Ham Holy Burger and Rossopomodoro will give John Lewis customers a fantastic range of fresh food alternatives to help make their visits to our shops even more enjoyable and memorable. With their focus on quality and fresh ingredients, we think people are going to love the offer from these two brands at our flagship shop. We’ve had a great response to the coffee and juice outlets we’ve already opened in Edinburgh, York and Solihull, so it made sense to add restaurants and involve our London shops in this initiative.

“Food is increasingly important to our customers, and ensuring that the restaurants in our shops are places which people seek out and want to spend time in is a key part of our approach to creating enjoyable and memorable social experiences at John Lewis.”

Handley Amos, UK managing director at Rossopomodoro and Ham Holy Burger, added: “We are immensely proud to join John Lewis in the flagship Oxford Street department store. John Lewis represents uncompromising quality and service in the UK, and we believe both Rossopomodoro and Ham Holy Burger’s emphasis on premium, authentic ingredients make us a perfect partner for their customers."

The deal follows on from John Lewis’s recent opening of Scandinavian juice bar Joe & the Juice in its Solihull shop and Hotel Chocolat’s cocoa bar cafe in Edinburgh and York, and fits into the company’s move to diversify social experiences in its shops.