Our Story

Karen

Operations Director

Karen Britton is one of the main driving forces behind the success of Zaza. Karen joined the company as a waitress over twenty years ago as a teenager when the company was in its early infancy with only a single restaurant. Over the years Karen has grown with the company and has been instrumental in its expansion and development. She heads up the entire Zaza family which consists of over 200 motivated and committed staff, many of whom have been with Zaza for over a decade. Karen's commitment to team building, customer service, quality and value is evident across the whole company and it's because of Karen's 'can do' attitude that Zaza has become a leading brand across so many towns.

Simone

Executive Head Chef

Simone was born and bred in a village between Padua and Venice, Northern Italy, his interest in food began at a very young age by observing his nonna masterfully preparing traditional dishes whilst playing under the kitchen table. After graduating from college, Simone began to work weekends at a local restaurant learning all the basics of Italian cuisine. But the realisation to become a chef came after tasting the food of and meeting Massimo Ratti, the chef/patron of Ponte Rosso, a small restaurant in the hills of Emilia Romagna.

In 2003 Simone came to London and travelled all over the country running countless restaurants in beautiful rural locations and busy cities. In 2014, Simone joined Zaza as a Senior Chef and has been here ever since. After over 20 years in a cooking career, Simone’s commitment to produce great food is unwavering as is his passion for all things Italian.

Octavian

General Manager
Bushey

Octavian joined Zaza as a waiter in 2013. Due to his excellent attention to detail and friendly customer service, He was then promoted to Assistant Manager after his first year. Octavian was then promoted to General Manager in 2015 and he relocated to Zaza in Bushey where he continues to lead a great team in a very busy restaurant. It is Octavian’s continued dedication and unparalleled customer service that has propelled Bushey to become one of the companies flagship restaurants. Octavian’s favourite dish is a wonderfully spicy Penne Arrabbiata with a chilled glass of Pinot Grigio.

Asia

General Manager
Pinner

Asia started with us as a waitress in 2009 and was promoted to supervisor just over a year later. After working extremely hard she was promoted to General Manager and took over our Pinner site after it had had an extensive refurbishment. Asia has successfully built a great team and busy restaurant, turning a huge amount of diners into regular customers with her friendly manor and attention to quality and customer service. Asia's favourite dish is Grilled Sea bass with a chilled glass of Sauvignon Blanc.

Sonia

General Manager
Ruislip

Sonia started with us as a waitress at our Ruislip branch back in 2014. Eager to further her career Sonia moved to our Pinner branch as a Supervisor. After gaining extensive experience in managerial operations she then returned to Ruislip to head up the team as General Manager. Sonia's positive energy and hard working attitude has seen Ruislip go from strength to strength over the past few years. Sonia's favourite dish is Veal Milanese with a glass of Italian white wine, Gavi di Gavi.

Larissa

General Manager
Harpenden

Larissa began her journey at Zaza in Rickmansworth where she became Supervisor. Larissa then moved to Harpenden as Assistant Manager, where she worked extremely hard ensuring the customers were looked after as though they where friends. This made her stand out from the rest of the team, where she earned her latest promotion to General Manager at the beginning of 2023. Larissa's favourite dish is either our sea Bass or seafood linguini with a wonderful glass of Sauvignon Blanc.

Alex

General Manager
Berkhamsted

Alex has been delighting customers at Zaza for eight years! His journey started in Pinner where he worked for over six years. Alex began his Managerial career at our Pinner restaurant and due to his hard work ethic and tenacity he rightfully earned the opportunity to head up our Berkhamsted restaurant as General Manager. Alex continues to raise the bar in terms of service and quality ensuring customers have the best experience they can, with customers coming back time and time again. Alex's favourite food is our sea bass dish paired with a cheeky glass of Primitivo

Raquel

General Manager
Enfield

Raquel began her Zaza journey with us back in 2018 and within six months she earned her first promotion to Supervisor. Raquel continued to work exceptionally hard and due to her friendly personality, caring nature and tenacity she quickly earned the promotion to General Manager. Raquel leads a team of talented and committed staff in a busy restaurant with many loyal regular customers. Her favourite dish is our Veal Milanese paired with a glass of Malbec Esquinas de Argento. She loves to spend time with her friends, Pippa her dog and loves to dance latino!

Fran

General Manager
Rickmansworth

Fran started as a host in 2019 in Rickmansworth and has progressed vigarously through the ranks to the top level of General Manager. Fran's positive attitude and warm friendly manner earned her the promotion to General Manager back in 2022, where she continues to take the restaurant from strength to strength. Her love of seafood means that our linguini pescatori is one of her favourites along side a nicely chilled glass of Picpoul de Pinet

Claudiu

General Manager
Old Amersham

Claudiu's journey to management began in Bushey in 2011. His hard work and dedication earned him a promotion to Assistant Manager and a move to our newly opened Berkhamsted branch. Claudiu then became the General Manager of Berkhamsted two years later. Due to Claudiu's coninued comitment and dedication he has recently taken the helm Old Amersham and is busy building another strong, hard working and conscientious team. Claudiu’s favourite dish is Linguini Pescatore with a lovely chilled glass of Gavi di Gavi.