Family of bread winners

Interview by Cara Cummings

Charmaine Wasif is the Managing Director of Eco Group, a family-run food business behind some of south London’s favourite restaurants including Eco, Esca and The Pepper Tree in Clapham and Absolutely Starving in London Bridge. She chats to the Urban Fox about working with family, how her parents helped set up Franco Manca and the mysterious power of bread...

How did your family get started in the food business?

My parents ran Pizzeria Franco in the 1980s as their first business venture. Dad [Sami Wasif, also cofounder of Hakkasan] came from Egypt in ‘76 and didn’t speak English; he was the child of a shoemaker, part of a really big family and didn’t know anyone in the UK when he arrived. He worked his way through the ranks and then in 1989, he bought Pizzeria Franco in Brixton from Franco himself. That became what is Franco Manca today.

Mum [Laura] and dad grafted - they washed the dishes, they made the salads, did everything from scratch and built it up enough that there were queues around the block. Franco taught my dad to make pizza and dad evolved his understanding from there about how climate affects the dough, how the human being affects the dough; the flour, the water, the temperature - all of the elemental life force affects dough. He built his own recipe from that. Thirty years down the line, it’s still being used here at Eco - a thirtyyears-evolved recipe of dough. Dad is still very engaged - he writes all the menus with me and tastes all the food. The food is the way it is because of him and his passion. If a chef’s not producing the standard that he’s created, he’ll know!

Eco’s sourdough pizzas are legendary. What’s the secret?

As a family, we have a whole breadrelated lineage that’s really incredible. Back in Egypt at the Spring Equinox, dad’s grandfather would take live yeast to the town, bless it and distribute it as mother dough to the villagers. Bread is Egypt is called ‘eish’ - eish means life force, and if you can make bread then you can make anything.

For us, food is all about people - that’s what he brought from Egypt, and what he’s always told me. He has to see them sat there happy, relaxed, comfortable and enjoying themselves. If they’re not, then we’ve got trouble!

Why do you think the family business has flourished so much? There are lots of elements at play when you sit in a really fantastic restaurant concept. It’s the sound, the acoustics, the temperature, the smell; plus the atmosphere. When you come into one of our places, you get immersed in the family, the staff, all the connections we have and that heritage. That’s already there in the atmosphere - the family dynamic. Then you have the lighting; dad’s obsessed with lighting! He’s on us all the time about bulbs. We have a whole technical spec sheet of which lights do what!

How did you get involved with the family business?

My whole life education is these businesses and watching my mum and dad do this. I studied architecture and started working in a practice, but when I was 23, I thought - oh no, this isn’t what my heart is telling me I should be doing. I said to dad: “Dad, I think I’ve made the wrong decision. I really want to come and work with you and mum and understand what this is all about.” I’ve been here ever since.

What’s it like working with family?

Mum and dad, my sister and several cousins all currently work within the business. It’s very rewarding. For the fifteen years that I’ve worked with my parents, the main challenge is working with a dad who’s meticulous and not taking it personally - I’ve been killing my ego off for fifteen years! It can be challenging because he’s a nononsense perfectionist, but that also makes it really fantastic to be part of. We’re also lucky enough to have staff who’ve stayed with us for many, many years - Roberto, who worked at the original Pizzeria Franco before dad bought it, still works there on Saturdays and other staff have been with us for twenty plus years. They are our extended family. It’s a bit like the mother dough fermenting and working its magic - this vision grows and grows. I can see my nephews being interested in becoming a part of it and I’m happy to hold this for as long as it takes for them to feel ready.