Pizza Rana started in our back garden in the Spring of 2020, the world was a strange place when COVID began and a lot of people suddenly had a lot more time on their hands. Unfortunately, this was not us! 

After welcoming our second child into the world in March 2020, I headed back to work to carry on my “Essential Work” as a Railway engineer. Unfortunately, the one thing that had changed for us, that I couldn’t stop thinking about - our weekly trips to Manchester for Neapolitan pizza had stopped.

With nowhere to go in the evenings, I took it upon myself to learn how to make Neapolitan pizza for my wife and me to get us through lockdown. 

After many failed attempts using the home oven and barbecue, I started to look at home pizza ovens. Being obsessive in nature and needing “the best” oven out there, this is where my relationship with Gozney started. 

I managed to get hold of a Gozney Roccbox, my wife was sent a “pizza in the post” kit from Pizza Pilgrims for her birthday and just like that, we were eating Neapolitan Pizza, in the garden, in the sunshine. Bellissimo! 

Lockdown restrictions eased a little.

For the next two weeks, I made pizza every single day after work. Inviting family members and friends to our garden to meet our new daughter, see our eldest son and I would feed them my pizza creations. 

The consensus was clear, the pizza was good. Really good! Good enough to sell?

I think most people took up cycling or couch to 5k, but I started a pizza business. 

Pizza Rana was decided on our love of frogs. Rana means frog in Italian. We also thought it sounded pretty cool too!

I bought a gazebo and some tables, my friend Tom (@tomc_photos) designed our first logo and I booked onto a local artisan food market to see how we got on.

An opportunity arose at a local brewery taproom to sell our pizzas to their customers on a Friday evening in June 2020 and we decided to give it a go. 

Two of my mates agreed to give me a hand, we chucked all the gear into their cars and set off not knowing what to expect. 

The event was a huge success and it just didn’t stop from there. 

We were out nearly every weekend making pizza at markets, taprooms, galas, festivals, weddings, and parties. You name it, we’d be there making our pizzas. Whatever the weather.

I mean, making pizza in a gazebo is tough. But doing it in the wind, rain and snow was really tough. 

We decided to get a food truck for the following year’s events. 

Finding a 1987 Mercedes van was not the first thought that came to mind. But when you know, you know. 

We found a local builder who could convert it for us. A local engineer who would fit the gas equipment and a local artist who would spray paint it for us. Sticking with Gozney, we fitted two of their new Dome ovens in and set off in search of bigger events. (And we found them!)

Meeting lots of people along the way led us to an opportunity to take on our first permanent spot at the newly refurbished Abingdon Street Market in Blackpool in 2023. We fell in love with the idea and the building, decided it was the right move and haven’t looked back since. Open 7 days a week, people can get hold of our pizzas whenever they wish. 

2024 brought our next adventure when we were having a day out in Lytham and saw a stunning little restaurant was vacant on Clifton Square, our imaginations ran wild about what a Pizza Rana restaurant could be like and we took the plunge, signed the lease and began learning everything we could about running a restaurant. After weeks of refurbs, hard graft and lots of wine tasting (important drinks menu research) we opened our doors to the new PIzza Rana restaurant in Lytham on 31st July!

Thanks for following our amazing little journey, we hope to see you in Blackpool or Lytham soon! And if you’re really lucky, you’ll see us out and about in the food truck at some pretty awesome events. 

Liam & Rach x