Pizza Van Hire in Tyne and Wear

The Pizza Van provides authentic Italian wood-fired pizzas served from a fully converted retro 1968 Citroen HY van and are based in North East England. It can be a unique experience for any occasion, wedding, birthday celebration, food market or festival and they can cater for any venue. Read on for their story plus some handy hints for booking your own provider.

What do you need to know from an organiser in order to provide a comprehensive quote?

To provide a comprehensive quote we would need the location of the venue in order to work out travel and staffing costs. We would need to know the estimated number of guests to give a price per head, although this can be amended closer to the time. It would also be beneficial to know if there are any known dietary requirements, especially to cater for gluten and dairy-free diets.

What advice would you give to a customer looking to hire a provider in your area of work?

I would ask if the ovens used to cook the pizzas are genuinely wood-fired, as you can get some pizza ovens which look wood-fired however are actually powered by gas. Genuine wood-fired ovens provide a much better flavour to the pizzas. I would also ask how much experience the provider had, obviously, those with long experience in the catering industry will be able to provide a much higher level of service.

Please tell us a little bit about how and why you started the business.

The Pizza Van was started in 2017 when I was currently working full time in a busy city centre Italian restaurant, I had a young family and some nights I would not return home till well after midnight. I knew that genuine wood-fired pizzas tasted amazing, and from my 10 years experience working in Italian cuisine I knew I could create pizzas which everyone would love! I have always had a passion for working with fresh seasonal ingredients and providing exceptional service, being self-employed has allowed me the flexibility to have a great family life as well as producing high-quality food to a high standard against my own name and not for someone else.

Please tell us about a booking you've had through Add to Event, how did it go? Would you recommend us to others?

I have lots of booking through Add to Event, we love to help couples celebrate the night time reception of their wedding, we recently attended a wedding in Saltburn by the sea, it was a really relaxed feel to the day, which our van complimented with it being a vintage 1968 Citroen HY van, parked next to hay bales for guests to sit on, it really looked the part. We served 100 people efficiently, no one had to wait for their pizzas, it was a great day had by all, including us!