At home with... Carl Say

With its original brand of South African-influenced pizzas and pastas, Say Pasta is challenging the usual Italian dishes. Julian Hall meets the owner Carl Say at his new restaurant on Battersea Rise

Above: Carl Say

How did you set up Say Pasta?

I came over to London from South Africa as a backpacker in the early 1990s and started working for big breweries, eventually managing some top Young’s and Fullers pubs in the centre of town. Every night after work I would be starving but I was so sick of getting curries and fried chicken. I thought it was amazing that no one here did take-away pastas which is big in South Africa. I thought I would like to do that. One thing led to another and, three years ago, I got moved to the West Country, to a pub in Bristol. It was there I met my present business partner John Laycock, the Bristol City Football Club chairman, who said "just do it, I’ll back you" when we discussed the idea. When you watch Dragons’ Den people are worried about throwing £100,000 in the pot, but John has invested millions in Say Pasta and given me and my ideas the break.

How did a take-away branch become a small chain of restaurants?

We opened our first little branch in Stoke Bishop, Bristol, in 2006 and it just went crazy. We started winning awards and getting a lot of write ups and one of the big foodie guys, Mark Taylor, said to me "you’re just too good to be a take-away you should open up a restaurant", so we did and we never looked back. We opened seven restaurants last year, the latest one in Wimbledon and we are looking at Putney now.

You also do pizza, but with a twist?

Yes, I have been back to South Africa a number of times on holiday and I think we do the best pizzas in the world over there because of the fresh ingredients we use – avocado in particular. We also do the ‘Banana Boy’ which is banana and bacon (essentially no different in concept to ham and pineapple), it’s very popular in South Africa and when I see five or six of those go up on the order board I know I have a group of South Africans in. Other interesting combinations include goat’s cheese with balsamic syrup, and ‘The Kalahari’ which is bolognaise on a pizza – a concept which came from people saving the bolognaise from a spaghetti meal the previous night and eating it the next day on bread for lunch! After a while the pizzerias in South Africa got hold of that idea and a new topping was born.

The competition must be tough, what marks you out as different, especially from Italian pizza/pasta restaurants of which there are a number in the area?

There’s no Italian influence in the company at all really (except for the ice-creams). It’s basically entirely South African-influenced, and this shows in ingredients like the fresh avocado and the fact that where possible, pizza ingredients are raw and not covered in cheese. We’re not consciously marketing ourselves as a South African company but customers will see my photos on the wall and recognise Cape Town or the Kruger National Park and the names of the pizzas, like ‘The Kalahari’.

What made you choose the location on Battersea Rise?

I have a flat in Northcote Road and I just love the area. I used to work for Young’s in Wandsworth, so I was just down the road, and I thought it was a nice location and a great mix of funky, trendy and family-oriented people that the restaurants would appeal to. I don’t think we have the very best site, we are right at the end, it’s not Northcote Road – you can really notice that sometimes it can be heaving on Northcote Road and quiet in the restaurants up here. But everyone is aware of it and I think we just have to make sure that we are as good as everyone else, that the service is worth remembering and trust that people talk about the food and word spreads.

How would you describe your customers?

We get people from across the whole range, families and so on, but in general people who are seeking out food at a reasonable price. Our main courses start at £6, so we get a lot of people telling us that they can afford to eat here twice a week, rather than get a take-away and eat out once a week. In terms of personality, people here are very open and friendly while people in Bristol can be a bit more reserved, and you’d think that it would be the other way around. In Battersea, customers are particularly interested in the concept.

What differences have changes in cuisine made to your business?

In Wimbledon our number one seller is the Tuna Penne. Tuna is cutting edge at the moment; we can’t keep up with it. Here in Battersea the picture is very mixed, but there are lots of salad orders, so you can see people are health conscious.

What about your desserts, there’s a story behind the ice-creams isn’t there?

Yes, I worked in Munich for four summers making ice cream from scratch in a family owned ice-cream parlour. I used to make 120 flavours; they only had 20 when I started. It was my all-time favourite job as I am addicted to ice cream. For Say Pasta I sourced a place in Italy that does almost the identical ice cream and we import that, so things like Strawberry Cup and Meringue Madness, old-fashioned and big servings. Not good for the waistline, but delicious.

1 Battersea Rise, Battersea, SW11;

020 7223 7719; www.saypasta.co.uk