ABOUT US
GB•PIZZA•CO started life in the back of a vintage VW Campervan.
Its co-founders, an award-winning chef, Rachel Seed, and travel and food journalist, Lisa Richards, moved to Margate in the Olympic summer year, 2012. Serving their wood-fired pizza from the Harbour Arm in sun, wind and occasional sideways rain. They launched their first permanent restaurant, on Margate’s historic seafront, in October 2012. Since then, the restaurant has been lauded in national and international press.
LISA RICHARDS is co-founder of GB•PIZZA•CO. In a past life she worked in publishing, as a magazine editor, travel and food writer and photographer’s assistant – amongst many other things. She even did a stint on live TV, working for This Morning. After winning ‘Gastropub of the Year’ and ‘Best Food Pub’ for her first hospitality venture, a pub in Wiltshire, she switched sides permanently, from reviewer to restaurateur.
The seafront restaurant enters a new chapter with family, community and heart at its centre under the ownership of Maria Friend and her sons, Bailey and Callum with the help of Husband, Leon.
For the Friend family, this is about far more than business. Great British Pizza has been their favourite restaurant since it first opened so they jumped at the chance to buy it.
For Maria, whose family roots are in Galicia in north-west Spain, food, family and hospitality have always gone hand in hand. Galicia is known for its strong food culture, Atlantic coastline, seafood traditions and deep sense of identity, values that sit naturally alongside the atmosphere and spirit the family want Great British Pizza to stand for.
- Favourite pizza: A simple Margate-rita or a chorizo and chilli with extra pear (believe me, it works).
- Cheeky extra topping: Tahini on everything.
- Favourite view in Margate: Apart from out of our window? I love a cold winter’s day when the beaches are deserted and the ships are taking shelter just off-shore.
- After-work drinks: Off Licence, Picnic or Sête.
- Out for dinner? We are SO spoilt for choice. Margate has become an incredible destination for independently owned restaurants and bars. Pomus, Angela’s, Bottega Caruso, Quince and The Good Egg are all favourites.
OUR TEAM
We are so lucky to have an amazing team, many of whom are Margate born and bred. We aim to deliver high quality, wood-fired pizzas topped with predominantly British ingredients, meticulously sourced. It’s incredibly important to us – and always has been – that customers can eat and drink well at our restaurant for under £10.
ABOUT RACHEL
