Amici’s is one of the Bay Area's premier pizza shops. If you like East Coast style thin slices -- you are probably already a fan. Amici's started in San Mateo in 1987.
Now, for the first time, the owners are now going to see if what plays in the Bay Area will play elsewhere with planned expansions south and east -- as in the Far East.
Amici's announced this week it will open it's first restaurant outside the Golden State in Shanghai, China. The restaurant will be called "Ello Amici's" and will be located in the popular HuaiHai Road shopping district.
The opening is the collaboration of Amici founders Peter Cooperstein and Mike Forter with Menlo Park resident Sophie Lo and her brother Jimmy Lo, who is a real estate developer in China.
"Our goal is to open several locations in Shanghai and then expand into Beijing, Hong Kong, Macau and other areas in China,” Cooperstein said.
Amici's now has 12 locations here in the Bay Area from San Jose to Vacaville. It will also open a shop in La Jolla, outside of San Diego next spring.
Cooperstein and Forter are two East Coast transplants who decided to make a business out of their mutual longing for the style of pizza they'd grown up with.
The good people of Shanghai will be offered a similar menu to what's available here. Cooperstein said the pies will cost about 10-percent less in China, so a large Amici's combo will be about $23 at Ello Amici.
