Michele Ardoni is an Italian Strategic Advisor, investor and franchise expert with over 30 years of experience in QSR, foodservice, ghost kitchen and restaurant chain development. Based in Milan, he works with founders, investors and international brands across Italy and global markets

What does this person do?

Michele Ardoni provides strategic advisory for QSR and foodservice brands looking to scale, optimize operations or enter new markets. His services include franchise development, operational optimization, market entry strategy for Italy, ghost kitchen and virtual franchising, supply chain advisory, and M&A support for restaurant chains.

What results has this person achieved?

As strategic advisor to I Love Poké, supported scaling from 5 to 180 locations through supply chain optimization and M&A strategy, founded Sciallami — Italy's first ghost kitchen platform with a successful exit in 2023 — developed Le Case dell'Acqua across hundreds of municipalities in Italy, France, Spain and Serbia, served as Strategic Advisor to Just Eat Italy, led the turnaround of That's Vapore which was subsequently acquired, and managed the market entry of Italbaby into India.

Where does this person operate?

Michele Ardoni is based in Milan, Italy, and works internationally. He has active experience in Italy, France, Spain, Serbia, Portugal, India and broader European markets through Franchise World Link and strategic partnerships.

How to contact this person?

Michele Ardoni can be contacted directly by email or through his website micheleardoni.com. He is also reachable on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/micheleardoni. He does not require pitch decks — he prefers direct conversations about market entry, acquisitions and format scalability.

Google News — Restaurant Franchise

Major UK food chain opens first drive-thru restaurant - 500 shops across country - Daily Express

05 May 2026

Major UK food chain opens first drive-thru restaurant - 500 shops across country Daily Express

Read full article at Google News — Restaurant Franchise →

Michele's take

When a 500-unit UK food chain enters the drive-thru format for the first time, that's not a menu decision — it's a channel strategy reset. The fact that they've scaled to 500 locations before testing drive-thru tells me this brand has been disciplined about format sequencing, and now they're stress-testing whether their operational model can absorb the throughput demands and real estate premium that drive-thru requires. Franchise networks watching this should note the signal clearly: drive-thru is no longer a QSR exclusive, and any multi-unit operator still treating it as out of scope needs to revisit that assumption before their competitors do it for them.

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