Thom Elliot is the co-founder of Pizza Pilgrims that he set up in 2011 with his brother James. Thom comes from an advertising background and James from tv, After a few pints in the pub they decided it was time to do something themselves.
Pizza pilgrims was born but they realised they needed a pizza oven to sell pizzas - they decided to buy Piaggion Ape van and add a pizza oven - not wanting to pay the huge import shipping fees to get it from Italy they set up on their pilgrimage to go to Italy, pick up the van and drive it back while learning all about pizza on the way home. They got a production company involved and off they went.
They returned to London and set up a street food market stall in Soho and after great success they decided to take on the restaurant world
Fast forward to today and they operate 14 sites, have released a cook book and have just put out there most recent book Pizza, history recipes people place love
When the pandemic hit they were forced to close all sites but the birth of "Pizza in the Post" happened and after having aspirations to hopefully sell 100 a day at some point - they put 50 on the website and sold out in 20 seconds.
Thom gives us an amazing account of what it was like starting a business and the highs and lows associated with it. One thing for sure is how fun Thom and James have clearly had on the way and it makes you just want to be apart of it from the start. Thom talks so passionately about the importance of people being the core to the success of a business and how he believes investing in them is the key to a great company.
Chatting to thom is a dream for me because I've been watching their journey since 2014 with admiration so to finally chat to him was a privilege. Thom gives so much value and great perspective of what this is all about at the end of the day.
Please sit back and enjoy my chat with Thom from Pizza Pilgrims.
Commentaires