For food lovers in Hyderabad seeking more than just a meal — something refined, rooted in European culture, and rich in flavour — Scuzi is the latest indulgence, arriving straight to your doorstep. Launched by actor and entrepreneur Akkineni Naga Chaitanya, Scuzi promises authentic Italian comfort food crafted with passion and premium ingredients.
We tried a range of their offerings and were thoroughly impressed: the Sorry Not Sorry Pizza (a double pepperoni delight with the perfect crust-to-topping ratio), Rigatoni Bianca with Truffle Oil (creamy, fragrant, and indulgent), Haleem Brioche Melt, Grilled Chicken & Avocado Bowl, Home Run Burger, and Baby Churros. The burger stood out with its juicy patty, while the churros were perfectly crisp and paired with a decadent dark chocolate dip. Unsurprisingly, Naga Chaitanya’s personal favourites are the lamb burger and the Sorry Not Sorry Pizza.
Elaborating more about his inspiration behind launching Scuzi and the story behind its name, Naga Chaitanya says, “The inspiration behind Scuzi was to build a brand that offers great comfort food. And when I say comfort food, I mean dishes that are wholesome and satisfying. So we picked some star dishes like pizzas, pastas, burgers, and a lot of bread and cheese-based dishes with ingredients picked from various regions. We picked some timeless recipes and added a new twist to them, either with some local flavours or completely different spices that you wouldn’t imagine in such a dish. Also, whenever I am travelling and I am really hungry, I am always looking for a good burger. So that was an additional inspiration. To create a really awesome burger for my people.”
He further adds that the name Scuzi actually means ‘excuse me’ in Italian. “Whenever someone says excuse me, they are sort of seeking your attention. And in this case that someone is the food itself. The food at Scuzi is saying excuse me to the person eating it, and saying ‘give me all your attention, because once you take a bite of me you’re definitely going to want more of me’. So it’s just a fun take on the Italian word, with the food wanting attention from the person eating it,” he notes.
For the actor-entrepreneur, the journey in the F&B space had started purely out of passion for food. “I have been fortunate to travel to multiple places around the world, and the food I tasted there always told me a story. In fact, whenever I land at a certain place, the first thing I look for is the local food. This led me to discover each place in a very unique new way. So this had sort of inspired me to get into the F&B space which allows me to bring those incredible tastes and experiences back home, and that’s how my journey began. My number one favourite cuisine is Asian, so that’s how Shoyu started, and my next venture Scuzi is an extension of my liking for comfort food like burgers, pizzas, and so on. I studied the fine-dine restaurant market — there were many new restaurants opening up every week, so there was too much happening in that space. But I found the cloud kitchen space to be underserved, with a lot of untapped potential. Delivering high quality, restaurant-plated food with a great amount of detailing — I didn’t find many players operating in this space. So that’s how I made an informed decision to venture into this space,” he reveals.
Interestingly, it is not just travel that made him passionate towards food. Infact, his favourite food memory is from the time he was growing up. “I was obsessed with butter naan and butter chicken, eating it so much that people used to think something was wrong with me,” he recalls, laughing.
According to the co-founder, he is currently very happy being in the cloud kitchen and QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) space. He explains, “With Shoyu, I ventured into the QSR model with one outlet at the Hyderabad Airport. But I’m not keen on venturing into the restaurant model right now. I want to multiply our cloud kitchens and venture into multiple cities, taking both brands across the country. So that’s my immediate priority at this time.”