Grant Recipient Stories
Business Incentive Grant recipient – Nidge’s Artisan Pizza Kitchen
Nidge will be familiar to many Andover residents – over the course of a month, his pizza van with its wood fired oven, pitches up at a range of locations so that residents can buy fresh pizza cooked on their own doorstep.
Nidge’s love of pizza and Italian cooking started on his 15th birthday when he took a washing up job in an Italian restaurant in Amesbury, and he always dreamed of being a chef. However, he didn’t take the plunge until a close friend, who had encouraged him to follow his dreams, passed away during covid.
It was a risk and a worry for Nidge to give up his main income but he was encouraged by Cllr Iris Anderson to apply for a Business Incentive Grant, and he and his partner decided to set up Nidge’s Artisan Pizza Kitchen. The grant gave them a helping hand in the early days – it funded the purchase of an illuminated pizza sign for the van.
The business has exceeded their expectations – it now has 1700 facebook followers, 5* reviews on tripadvisor, and a recommendation on Restaurant Guru 2024. To cap it all, it has won two awards in 2024 in the South of England Prestige Awards: Takeaway of the Year for Hampshire, and Mobile Food Business of the Year for London and the South East!