On the heels of opening a Curry Pizza House in Lake Forest, Franchisees Anoop Sharma and his wife, Shri Raval, who moved to Southern California from the Bay area in 2021, are already planning location number two — this time in Tustin.
“We are a husband-and-wife team joining hands to start something new and connect with the local community in Lake Forest,” Sharma said in a press release when the Lake Forest location opened in June 2023. “Our goal is to create a space where everyone can come together and feel welcome. We invite the people of the Lake Forest community to join us in cultivating this environment.”
Currently in the permitting process, the new Curry Pizza House will replace Daphne’s, at 2360 Park Ave #9H, following a “small renovation” in the early part of 2024, Sharma told What Now Orange County in an interview this week.
“People are just loving it,” Sharma said of Curry Pizza House’s Lake Forest location. “It’s catching on like a fire.”
Taking key learnings from their Lake Forest location, Sharma and Raval will expand the menu at Curry Pizza House Tustin and add a beer and wine program for which the duo is currently in the liquor licensing process. They’ll also consider offering table service as opposed to counter-service only.
For people hesitant to try the unfamiliar flavors of Curry Pizza House, Sharma said the “fusion of flavors is subtle rather than an overwhelming sense of curry.” The handcrafted Indian-fusion pizzas are topped with fresh ingredients, “loaded to the edge of the pie, with a little bit of spice that brings everything together.”
Curry House Pizza, which has 17 locations across California and Texas, will expand up from Orange County into Los Angeles County over time, Sharma said.
“We are learning as we are opening and seeing where we are getting more and more demand so we will work upwards toward Los Angeles,” Sharma said. “We don’t have a city-by-city roadmap yet as we want to grow that roadmap organically.”
Curry Pizza House is the brainchild of Gursewak Gill and Romy Gill, and has been around since 2013 under its current name.
“Our mission at CPH is really simple — we’ve taken pizza back to our roots,” Gill said in the press release. “By making fresh pizza dough daily and employing a variety of authentic Indian flavors, we’re giving guests a way to enjoy a unique take on pizza. I am beyond thrilled to expand Curry Pizza House’s presence to Southern California with such an incredible franchise owner, Anoop Sharma. We jumped on the opportunity to be in the Lake Forest community because of its diverse food offerings and people.”
