A FAMILY-owned food business in Newry has ramped up production of its own brand homemade pizza kits after a surge in demand.
La Dolce Vita, headed by Giuseppe Fallone and his wife Fiona, is now making between 6,000 and 7,000 kits a week, with demand still climbing.
The simple kit, which includes fresh pizzeria dough, a tomato sauce base, cheese and topping, has proved a hit during the lockdown, with a growing number of supermarkets across the island putting it on their shelves.
Speaking to The Irish News, Giuseppe said the concept came about shortly after the company, which has three takeaways and a restaurant, placed its 130 staff on furlough on March 20.
The Newry man said the business had been drawing up plans to develop a range of retail products prior to the pandemic from its new 7,000 sq ft headquarters and prep centre at Camlough Retail Park. But he said the crisis had spurred them into action.
The final push came after conversations with supermarket owners Nigel O’Hare and Gerard Hughes convinced the family there was a strong local demand.
With their staff still furloughed at that point, Giuseppe, Fiona and their four children began work on the first kits.
“The supermarkets were getting their first kits on the Thursday, but they wanted a step-by-step instructional video. So on the Wednesday, we went home and my son shot the video in our kitchen.”
The video, including the secret technique (firming up the base on a frying pan) has now been viewed nearly 20,000 times on Youtube.
“That really helped people and explained it, and we’ve been getting a lot of positive feedback.”
The kits were subsequently picked up by Newry distributor Parkview Provisions, with shops from Coalisland to Bettystown in Co Meath now stocking the homemade La Dolce Vita (LDV) pizzas.
“We’re making 6,000 or 7,000 kits a week now. A shop in Craigavon got 200 on Saturday morning and they were sold out by lunchtime.”
While the company began reopening its takeaways last week, Giuseppe said the experience has provided them with a new perspective on the future.
“It has changed the way we do things. We were planning on bringing some of our products to retail, but we never actually got there. So this has been the kick up the backside we kind of needed.
“We had our new premises, we had the space, we had all the new processes and the PPE, everything just fell into place.
“Our maximum capacity is now up to 1,400 kits a day.”
And he doesn’t think demand has peaked.
“A few big players have contacted me and they’re looking to distribute them through different platforms and apps.
“Customers are telling us that even when things go back to normal, they’re still going to buy it.
“There’s definitely a market there for it.”
