Man who made PizzaExpress wants another slice of action

One of the entrepreneurs who turned the Pizza Express chain into a restaurant success story of the 1990s has made an audacious new bid to seize control of the troubled business.

Hugh Osmond announced his intentions yesterday to take a second bite at the company that he helped turn into one of the most copied fixtures of the high street.

His eight-year association with the company introduced the Sloppy Giuseppe pizza and baked dough balls into the national consciousness but the company has seen hard times in the face of increasing opposition from newer rivals.

Its share price has tumbled over recent times but rallied yesterday as Mr Osmond announced his intentions to return to the battle for the wealth of the pizza-buying public.

If he won back control of Pizza Express, it would pitch him into competition with Luke Johnson, his former business partner during the 1990s, but now a rival.

Mr Osmond will have to take on Mr Johnson's Strada, along with Ask, as some of his main challengers to try to return as Britain's undisputed head of the pizza market.

He dismissed the challenge yesterday with a barbed response towards his one-time friend and partner.

"I don't regard that as competition. Good luck, they are just one-day wonders," he said. "I am not concerned with them.

"The competition is a lot stronger but Pizza Express has been around since 1965 and I dare say it will survive."

Mr Osmond said yesterday that his decision had nothing to do with sentimentality, offering up to 350p for shares that were selling for more than £9 earlier this year.

Changing tastes and a feeling that the business has scarcely changed for years have been blamed for the decline of the restaurants.

An associate said: "I think the money motive is stronger than any sentimental value. He seems to be a pretty tough nosed businessman." Mr Osmond himself said that anyone expecting to pay a premium price for the business had been "sprinkling something stronger on their pizza than pepper".

He said: "It doesn't sound like a company you want to pay a lot of money for to me."

Pizza Express urged its shareholders to take no action after news of the approach.

Mr Osmond, 40, a workaholic who is estimated to have a £134m fortune according to the 2002 Sunday Times Rich List, built his reputation on the expansion of Pizza Express with Mr Johnson. Mr Osmond is suspected by some of resenting Mr Johnson's higher profile during the Pizza Express years.

Mr Osmond once said in an interview, "I think there always is, and always was, some competition between us. It was great working with Luke but I think we've proved we can function independently. It was not some kind of Siamese twin-ship."

As students together at Oxford University, the pair started up a nightclub and then expanded to other cities in Britain. Mr Osmond left to run a nightclub in Los Angeles before returning to Britain and getting involved in the loss-making PizzaExpress business. He remained as executive until 1998, stayed on the board for another couple of years while forming the Punch Pub company, taking over premises from other companies making him one of Britain's biggest landlords.

He fell out with Mr Johnson after he had left Pizza Express and the pair had lined up rival bids to buy the Whitbread group.

Mr Johnson was said to be "incandescent" that Mr Osmond had stopped him from competing against him because of a contractual agreement. Mr Osmond, after he had forced Mr Johnson to pull out of the deal, said: "We had an agreement, he broke it."

The pair, when operating harmoniously together were known as "Hughie and Louie" and cut a swath through the business ranks with a series of deals that were swiftly put together. They became well known for turning around ailing businesses. Their rift became apparent over the Whitbread deal.

However, Mr Osmond said yesterday: "When you stop working with partners you don't necessarily remain on buddy terms. We speak and we do meet for a coffee. We are not deadly business rivals as is sometimes depicted."