Santa Nata

About Santa Nata

Offering only authentic and traditional artisan pastel de nata (a Portuguese pastry with egg custard filling) handmade by artisan pastry chefs, Lisbon-based Santa Nata celebrates traditional Portuguese baking, which it aims to spread across the globe. It currently has five UK stores, with two in London’s Covent Garden having opened in 2019, and its regional debut, in Oxford, opening in September 2022. A third London site, in Borough Market, opened in the summer of 2023, followed by a unit in Battersea Power Station in May 2024.

Named after the home of the original pastel de nata, from the parish of Santa Maria de Belem in Portugal, it aims to become the world’s leading pastel de nata brand. Co-founder Francisco Oliveira’s family have been baking since 1900 and own seven bakeries in Portugal. As well as the tarts, which are made freshly on site, the Santa Nata sites serve refreshments such as coffee, port and Ginjinha (cherry sour liquor).

The company said: “We aim to be one of the world’s leading pastel de nata brands, eventually moving further afield into key cities and new destination market halls. We use the finest ingredients, employ a highly talented team of chefs and front of house staff and present our product in premium quality packaging, in a stylish setting. We want to take our guests on a journey to Portugal and into an authentic bakery, showcasing the theatre of the chefs at work, the ring of the bell to signal a new batch and the alluring aroma of freshly baked nata.”

The business is working with Seeds Consulting as it looks to expand to 25-plus UK locations. In March 2024, responding to a piece in the Guardian saying that pastel de nata is “colonising the UK like never before”, Seeds founder Matteo Frigeri said: “How many other food franchises generate an average 30%-plus site Ebitda (of net turnover excluding VAT)? We still have some very lucrative markets available in both EMEA and APAC.”

In May 2026, Santa Nata said it is to add to its oversea sites in Kuwait and Qatar with an opening in Hong Kong. It came as the business recorded it 10,000,000th Pasta de Nata sale. Oliveira said: “Reaching our 10 millionth Pastel de Nata sale is an important milestone for us and something I’m very grateful for, especially considering Santa Nata started with one small shop and a simple idea, to bring an authentic taste of Lisbon to London. I still think there is a long way to go in terms of what we want to build, improve and achieve. We’re proud of what we’ve done so far, but we stay focused on getting better every day and continuing to grow the brand the right way.”

Why franchise with Santa Nata

• ✓Santa Nata operates in a variety of formats, from production stores of around 500 square feet with limited seating to smaller kiosk and carts in premium food and retail schemes and outlet villages in the UK and Saudi Arabia. Santa Nata is a simple concept that can be easily taught, and therefore gaining access to the secret recipe and being trained to master the technique is half the journey complete.
• ✓The single-digit cost of sales percentage, small locations and low operating costs allow Santa Nata to deliver proven healthy returns. Santa Nata is currently embarking on a journey to take the brand to 25+ UK locations over the next three years, mainly via franchising, and expand in selected regions overseas in partnership with qualified multi-unit franchisees interested in operating the brand in a territory, or within an existing hospitality or retail estate.
• ✓Start-up costs are around £100,000, while a comprehensive support package includes assistance with premises design and build, access to business manuals, four weeks’ initial training and opening support, marketing collateral, premises and location evaluation, assistance with store layout definition, provision of equipment, optimised supply lines for ingredients and packaging and assistance with PR and marketing.