Caterer Spotlight: BB Pizza

We are Eve and Karim, a duo of pizza lovers that always dreamed about owning our own authentic wood fired pizzeria.

Four years ago Karim built a wood fired oven in our garden, where we started hosting some parties for our friends and neighbours. We received some great feedback and friends began to say that we should start a pizza business. So the idea of owning a mobile pizzeria was born in lockdown. We bought the horse box back in November 2020 and began to convert it into a charming vintage pizzeria. We spent few weeks on research and we liked that the street food sector offers a unique opportunity with minimal investment. The street food market is growing stronger and represents a significant part of urban food consumption for millions of consumers.

Why woodfired pizza?

Karim grew up in the South of France where the majority of pizzas are baked in wood fired ovens. He believes that a wood fired oven is the absolute best way to create and cook authentic pizza. It’s not only tastier but also healthier. The extreme heat contained in a wood burning oven bakes pizza super fast which helps the toppings hold onto their natural nutrients. The high heat also gives the pizza crust an amazing texture: puffy and soft on top, but nice and crispy on the bottom.

What does BB, of BB Pizza, stand for?

We couldn’t decide on the name for our pizzeria. We started with “The Village Pizzaiolo “, but realised that the name will be too hard and too long for customers to remember. Since we have double B in our surname our friend suggested that we should go with “BB PIZZA”.  It’s short and easy to remember.

What do you like most about working in the independent hospitality industry?

We both have years of experience in the food and catering industry and we love making people happy. Our business is all about food and people. We are happy that we can be creative with our pizzas and can meet so many new people in the process. The best part of it all is that we are our own bosses. We don’t have a boring 9 to 5 job and that we can take our little pizzeria anywhere in the UK .

If you could give one piece of advice to your younger selves as they began this venture, what would it be?

Do your research. Do not be afraid to ask for help . Join NCASS as soon as you start as they will guide you through every step of your journey.

What type of events do you enjoy doing the most?

We love doing all of our events, but festivals are definitely what we enjoy most. The atmosphere, the new faces, music, really busy environment – that’s what gives us the buzzing feeling we adore.

What led you to become an NCASS member and how has it helped your business?

Our friend who is a street food vendor himself recommended that we join NCASS as there’s so many topics that street food businesses require. It can be very daunting at first when it comes to legal requirements, finances, risk assessment etc. We joined NCASS last year and it was the best decision we’ve made. Not only do we receive help with important documents, but we also saved money on insurance, as well as receiving cash back from shopping at Booker which saved us hundreds of pounds last year. We have renewed our membership for this year as it gives us the peace of mind that we can always ask for advice if needed.

What is the most important lesson that you’ve learnt whilst running your own business?

Being patient and resilient. Respect yourself as a business owner. It will never be “the right time“ so just go for it.

This is a somewhat controversial question I know, but does pineapple belong on pizza?

Ahh the million pound question. As long as customer is happy then anything belongs on the pizza . I actually tried Hawaiian pizza for the first time last week and surprisingly I really enjoyed it! Karim on the other hand not so much. .

You’ve been asked to help break the Guinness World Record for the largest pizza ever made. What toppings are you choosing?

Pepperoni! Everyone loves pepperoni!

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