When Via Tribunali opened its first restaurant in Helsinki’s Torikorttelit in 2017, the media picked up the brand story, Neapolitan pizza became the talk of the town, and the line stretched out onto the street. Beyond a share of good luck, the company was propelled to a flying start by strong product expertise and an unusually marketing-minded team. The idea for the restaurant was born in a backyard in Espoo.

“Our founding team already had experience in the restaurant industry, particularly with cocktail bars. One of our fathers is a passionate pizza hobbyist, and he invited us over for a meal. He’d heated up a pizza oven he’d built himself in the backyard, and the ingredients had been chosen with real care. Basically right after tasting the pizza, we decided this was a product worth pursuing,” recalls Antti Kuitunen, CEO of Via Tribunali’s parent company.

After researching the market, the founders traveled to Italy to learn, source ingredients, and understand what actually gives Neapolitan pizza its flavor. The name came from that same trip: Via Tribunali is one of Naples’ central streets, a place where the city’s history, food, and everyday life all come together.

Visibility built on story and courage

The team decided to open a Facebook page and start documenting the backstory before anything concrete even existed. Social media served as a promise of things to come and began drawing people in. Setbacks were communicated openly too. Even before it opened its doors, Via Tribunali had already caught the media’s interest.

A space was found on Helsinki’s Sofiankatu with a floor sturdy enough to hold the 1,700-kilogram pizza oven brought in from Italy. The first restaurant’s limited capacity and constant queues gave the brand an unexpected air of exclusivity. According to Kuitunen, the year after opening was spent simply keeping up with demand.

“At that point we had to stop and think about how to move forward. We decided to open a second restaurant and to properly invest in marketing and the brand. The restaurant industry isn’t used to setting aside a real budget for marketing, or managing it systematically.”

SDM became Via Tribunali’s digital marketing agency, and the collaboration quickly expanded across different areas. What began with early campaigns and getting the technical fundamentals in order evolved naturally into more strategic marketing.

“We saw results quickly, but what mattered even more was that we were, at the same time, laying the groundwork for growth that would last for years,” Kuitunen says.

A playbook for scaling into a restaurant chain

The successful opening of the second restaurant confirmed the direction. Kuitunen says SDM brought structure to Via Tribunali’s marketing, and above all, a repeatable model for opening new restaurants.

“Together we built a playbook for scaling that works time and again. We handle the operational side, and SDM makes sure customers find their way to us.”

Restaurant openings turned into manageable projects. Building local awareness and pre-launch marketing were put on a set rhythm. What had been chaotic became repeatable.

On the communications side, the team decided to keep its distinctively open approach. Rather than keeping things under wraps, recipes, ingredients, suppliers, and preparation methods were all shared openly with the public. The team traveled to Italy to film a YouTube documentary series, and guides on making Neapolitan pizza were published.

“If someone tries making pizza at home using our instructions, they quickly realize how hard it actually is. After that, they have a whole new appreciation for our product.”

Through content marketing, Via Tribunali built a newsletter list of 20,000 subscribers and a community that followed the brand even outside of restaurant visits.

A brand that travels beyond city limits

Via Tribunali has grown profitably into a nationwide chain of ten restaurants, and the work behind it has earned international recognition too. Via Tribunali has repeatedly been named to lists of the world’s best pizzerias and has gained visibility in the industry’s most respected media outlets.

“When we open in a new location, people recognize the name. They’ve either been to one of our restaurants or heard about us. That makes everything easier,” Kuitunen says, summing up the value of a strong brand, and continues:

“The right partner at the right time, and the courage to invest. That’s been a big part of what’s made the marketing work.”