Bellissimo Pizza, the Uzbekistan-based chain that grew from a single outlet in 2015 to roughly 100 locations across its home market, has established an 11-branch network in Kazakhstan within its first year of international operations, acquired the assets of a local Papa John’s franchisee, and set a target of 200 restaurants across Kazakhstan by 2030, according to an interview with the company’s business development director published by Spot.uz in August 2026.
The expansion, which began in 2025, makes Kazakhstan the brand’s first market outside Uzbekistan. Saiyed Matkarimov, who leads Bellissimo’s Kazakhstan operations and relocated there full-time, told Spot that the decision was driven by the country’s well-developed dining-out culture and strong pizza consumption. Of the 11 outlets now operating, ten are company-owned and one is a franchise partner in Kyzylorda. Two of the eleven operate as dark kitchens — delivery-only facilities — a format the company is testing in Kazakhstan before any potential rollout in Uzbekistan.
By city, three restaurants are in Astana — described as two-storey venues with large play areas — while the remainder are spread between Almaty and Kyzylorda. Two additional outlets opened on food courts in Almaty’s Mega and Forum shopping centres in the week before the interview was published, bringing the total staff in Kazakhstan to more than 150 people. Of those, only three or four were transferred from the Uzbekistan operation to support the launch; the rest are locally hired.
Papa John’s asset acquisition
One of the more significant steps in the Kazakhstan build-out was the acquisition of assets from the local franchisee of Papa John’s in Almaty. Matkarimov said the Kazakhstani franchisee approached Bellissimo with the offer; the deal covered lease agreements on the premises, production equipment and the existing workforce. The purchase price was not disclosed. Matkarimov was explicit that the transaction involved the franchisee’s assets rather than the Papa John’s brand itself.
Cost structure and pricing
Opening costs in Kazakhstan have come down as the company has standardised its supplier and contractor relationships. Early restaurants cost considerably more, Matkarimov said, because the team was building processes from scratch. With those systems now in place, a new outlet costs from approximately $150,000 to open, and the company targets a 12-month payback period, though some locations are performing ahead of that schedule.
Menu prices in Kazakhstan run roughly 10–15% higher than equivalent items in Tashkent, a gap Matkarimov attributed primarily to import logistics. Most core ingredients — including dough components and cheese — are sourced internationally from Greece, Indonesia and South Korea rather than locally, and are supplied centrally from the company’s production facility. No ingredient substitution is permitted at the restaurant level without laboratory approval. Despite the premium over Uzbekistan prices, Matkarimov said Bellissimo’s pricing remains below that of other major pizza chains operating in Kazakhstan.
Delivery strategy and digital operations
Bellissimo entered Kazakhstan with a 35-minute delivery guarantee — from order placement to doorstep — backed by a policy of gifting a free pizza if the deadline is missed. In the early months, average delivery times ran to around 50 minutes and the company absorbed significant costs in complimentary orders, but Matkarimov said the guarantee was kept in place deliberately to force operational improvements. Each restaurant now runs four to five dedicated couriers, and delivery zones are drawn tightly in dense urban areas to maintain the time commitment.
Unlike in Uzbekistan, where Telegram bots are a primary ordering channel, Bellissimo does not operate a Telegram bot in Kazakhstan, citing lower Telegram penetration in the market. Orders flow predominantly through the company’s own mobile application, with Yandex and Wolt used as additional discovery channels; fulfilment in all cases is handled by Bellissimo’s own couriers rather than the aggregators’ delivery networks. The company said order volumes at individual branches are growing at 15–20% per month, with a typical outlet processing around 150–160 orders per day.
Volume and market position
Across its nine standard restaurants and two dark kitchens, Bellissimo is selling more than 50,000 pizzas per month in Kazakhstan. That figure is a fraction of the Uzbekistan operation, which was selling more than half a million pizzas per month in the previous year, but Matkarimov framed the comparison as evidence of growth potential rather than a shortcoming. The Kazakhstan market splits roughly evenly between dine-in and delivery, a ratio the company is working to shift further toward delivery.
Localisation and brand positioning
Bellissimo has deliberately avoided emphasising its Uzbekistani origins in the Kazakhstan market. Restaurant interiors, signage and tiling incorporate Kazakhstani national motifs developed with local specialists, and all marketing is conducted in Kazakh, with Russian used only where space permits both languages. The company introduced at least one Kazakhstan-specific menu item: a cottage cheese dish incorporating tary — toasted millet or wheat traditionally added to milk tea — as a nod to local food culture.
Quality control across the geographically dispersed network relies on a combination of mystery shoppers and a real-time digital feedback system. Customers are invited to rate the pizza’s taste through a short survey; results are aggregated into dashboards visible to management in real time, allowing the team to detect ingredient or preparation deviations quickly. Matkarimov, who previously held senior roles at UMS, Beeline and Tele2 before moving into food and beverage, described the company’s internal structure as closer to a technology business than a conventional restaurant chain, with logistics, flavour tracking and courier routing all managed through proprietary digital systems.
The company’s stated goal of 200 restaurants in Kazakhstan by 2030 would require it to more than quadruple its current footprint in under four years — a pace that would exceed the rate at which it built its entire Uzbekistan network over a decade. Matkarimov acknowledged that Kazakhstan is being used as a testing ground for processes and formats, including the dark kitchen model and the franchise model, that the company intends to apply when it enters further international markets.
