Teens launch pizza business to beat lockdown jobs slump
(L-R) George Chrisovelides, Morgan Hardy and Logan Hardy with one of their artisan pizzas. Picture: Priory Woodfired Pizza - Credit: Priory Woodfired Pizza
Three teenagers have turned their lockdown fortunes around having lost their jobs before launching a wood-fired pizza business.
The horsebox set up ready for customers. Picture: Priory Woodfired Pizza - Credit: Priory Woodfired Pizza
Morgan Hardy, 19, and brother Logan, 16, alongside her boyfriend George Chrisovelides, 19, have begun selling home-made pizzas out of a converted horsebox.
The Norfolk-born trio hope to build up a regular following – already selling around 200 pizzas every weekend since opening in August.
Miss Hardy explained: “I’m a student at UEA and was working at the Eaton Park café but lost my job because of the virus. I wanted to keep working and to find something that would teach me some new skills.
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“We came up with the idea of wood-fired pizza and took it from there. We never thought that we could turn it around as quickly as we did. We found the horsebox a few weeks into lockdown and sent it off to a place in Peterborough for it to be converted.”
To purchase the horsebox, as well as make the conversions, required an investment of £12,000 which the group are paying back as a percentage of every pizza sold.
The group are stationing their horsebox at a field in St Olaves Priory, backing onto nearby Priory Farm.
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“It’s nice because people can feed the horses while they wait for their pizza. There are hay bales for the children to run around or sit on so it’s a good event for the whole family.
“It’s taught us all some really good skills. One day we were walking through a field trying to find the right spot and the next we were applying for our hygiene certificates,” she said.
The three also taught themselves how to make the artisan Neapolitan-style pizzas.
“We watched loads of YouTube videos and had to make a few hundred pizzas before we got it right. We buy our dough from a local Greek restaurant but make the sauce and choose the toping combinations ourselves,” Miss Hardy said.
“We’d like to try and establish ourselves as a well-known brand around here. Then we think we could rent the horsebox out for events in the colder months, then if we look to expand we’d want to hire other younger people like us.”
For more information and to find out when the pizzas will be on sale, visit the Priory Woodfired Pizza facebook page.
