Pizzaiolos, cousins and best friends, Francis Garcia and Sal Basille, are two regular guys from the neighborhood, whose DNA reads garlic and oil. They are fourth generation restaurateurs. Since opening their first store in NYC’s East Village in 2008, Artichoke Basille’s Pizza has expanded to 11 hugely successful locations across the country with more on the way. They have always impressed critics, fellow chefs, and chowhounds alike and are now teaming up with Fransmart for global franchise development.
“Over the years, we have had requests from all over the world to franchise Artichoke Basille’s but we never felt the timing was right until now. We proved the concept throughout NYC and Berkley, California, and are now thrilled for the opportunity to partner with Fransmart to bring our family’s legacy to people all over the world. Our grandparents are probably doing handstands in Heaven,” says Francis Garcia, owner of Artichoke Basille Pizza.
Since launching Artichoke Basille’s Pizza, Fran and Sal have been featured on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Rachael Ray Show, Late Night with Seth Meyers, The Chew with Mario Batali, as well as written up in The New York Times, The New York Post, New York Magazine, and numerous other food blogs, websites, and publications. Their never-ending line of devoted Artichoke Pizza fans include many celebrities, but most importantly, it draws from legions of native New Yorkers.
Their premiere series, Pizza Cuz, aired on Cooking Channel and had them out on the road in a mouth-watering exploration of pizza across the country. Pizza Masters followed, another food trek series with a huge sense of humor that is still airing on the Cooking Channel and Netflix.
Fransmart serves as Artichoke Basille Pizza’s exclusive franchise development partner and is the franchise development company behind explosive growth of brands like Five Guys Burgers and Fries and Qdoba Mexican Grill. The pair plan to grow Artichoke Basille Pizza into the country’s biggest pizza slice restaurant with stores in every major U.S. market.
