After a slice of Pizza Express

If a whole group of people go for a pizza, they'll often buy a great big one and share. That's unless they go to Pizza Express, where the pizzas are just that little bit smaller and everyone has to order one each.

It's a bit like that with the bidding war for Pizza Express, the owners of the eponymous restaurants. It seems to have turned into a battle for the pepperoni between some young and aggressive food-fighters, and the only result you can be sure of is a feeding frenzy for the City.

Roll back a few years and the company, which was founded in the 1960s by the gregarious, jazz-loving Peter Boizot, was brought to the stock market by two of the young entrepreneurs who were making a name for themselves, Luke Johnson and Hugh Osmond. The business was run by the likeable David Page, who started out as a washer-upper in one of Mr Boizot's establishments. Everyone got on like mozzarella and tomato. But then egos got in the way. Mr Boizot quit, Luke and Hugh fell out, with Hugh going off to make his fortune with Punch Taverns and now bidding for Six Continents. Then Luke and David fell out. In the end David Page was left all on his own.

This was fine when things were going well, but in the last year or so the anchovies have started falling off the marinara.

The recession, combined with a tired menu and tough competition from the likes of Ask and Eat!, has eaten into Pizza Express's profits. In recent weeks the central London outlets have suffered from the Central Line closure and congestion charging.

Pizza Express shares slumped to just 247p, at which point it started receiving some bid interest. Hugh Osmond said he might make an offer for as much as 350p, but found he had bigger fish to fry. Then David Page made a bid, then Luke Johnson made a bid and now Robbie Endhoven, the South African entrepreneur behind the Nando's chain, has entered the fray.

Last week a few more logs were chucked into the pizza oven when the group's chairman, Nigel Colne, said he wanted to accept Luke Johnson's bid, leaving David Page with fiorentina on his face. Mr Johnson duly made his offer, which ended up playing into Mr Endhoven's chicken-greasy hands.

He and his backers, a small venture capital group that had never done a deal, were way off being ready to bid. They now have 60 days to put something tasty on the table. Pizza Express shares are now trading at 385p a share, and that's without extra cheese.