EG GROUP, owned by Blackburn's billionaire Issa brothers who started their business with a single petrol station in Bury, has announced another expansion into America.

The company's US arm, EG America, will be opening a restaurant in the state of Ohio in partnership with pizza chain Sbarro.

The restaurant is located in the Columbus Market and is one of seven planned openings across the state this year and comes after EG Group already established a US bridgehead with the purchase of Colorado based Shrader Oil in November last year, having already established an American headquarters the year before.

EG America senior vice president Cindy Rantanen said: "We are excited about our expanding partnership with Sbarro.

"We are thrilled to offer our customers fresh, handmade, authentic New York-style pizza as well as other Italian favourites."

Sbarro, meanwhile, hopes that this will mark the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship with the Blackburn headquartered company.

Sbarro CEO David Karam said: "The partnership with EG America is very exciting, it's a natural fit between the two brands.

"While pizza has been a top selling food item in convenience stores for many years, Sbarro offers premium quality pizza, Stromboli and other menu items that are freshly prepared each day in-store.

"We pioneered the concept of pizza-by-the-slice in our first location in Brooklyn, New York in 1956, and have retained the made from scratch recipes ever since."

He added: "Foodservice sales have been the fastest growing segment in the convenience store industry generating over $60 billion in revenue and 22 per cent of profits.

"Most of the major convenience store chains have been working to optimize their foodservice offerings and we believe Sbarro is an ideal fit."

Lancashire Telegraph:

EG Group's Blackburn headquarters 

The move comes of the back of a busy period for Mohsin and Zuber Issa, with 2020 have seen the Blackburn billionaires purchase shopping chain Asda from its American owner Walmart and acquire iconic Mellor venue Stanley House, while attempts to buy Caffe Nero are ongoing.

On the international stage, their company has also expanding into Germany with a €485m acquisition of 285 petrol station forecourts formerly belonging to German firm OMV Deutschland.

The brothers will hope that this is just an early stage of their inroads into the USA.