Authentic pizza business – offering ‘the best in the county’ – is to target new area of Northants in 2024

An authentic pizza business, which the owner believes is “the best in the county”, will be targeting a new area of Northamptonshire in 2024 as part of their “exciting” plans.

Santina’s Wood Fired Pizza Co, which brings a taste of Naples to the county and beyond, was founded a month into the pandemic in April 2020.

The business is run by Oli Nesbitt and his mother Santina, who was born in Naples – the home of pizza.

Santina and her family travelled to Northants from Italy in the early 1950s, and with them came a secret family recipe passed down through generations.

It is Oli who safeguards the recipe to make the pizzas the best they can be, which they offer at weddings, private parties and community-based events and pop-ups.

The business began operating from Santina’s driveway almost four years ago, which Oli says was “purely by accident”.

The pair wanted to create a social project to provide people with delicious food when all the shops were bare during the unprecedented times.

Oli had a successful career in the shoe industry at this time, but when he changed jobs and was made redundant in August 2020, he made a real go of Santina’s from then on.

With only a month’s salary to get by on, he saw an opportunity to make money from selling high quality, authentic pizzas from the driveway – and it was not long before pubs and wedding venues got in touch through word of mouth.

“It’s gone so well,” said Oli, when asked how the business has been received by the Northants community since then. “We have amazing customers.”

As the business has grown, they now have three-to-four teams operating each day and have reached out to neighbouring counties.

Having also scooped a number of prestigious local awards, Oli is proud to have made a success of something they started simply to have a positive impact on others.

The business co-founder believes it is a strong brand and the fact his mother Santina is from Naples that customers like most about the business.

“We came from humble beginnings,” he added. “We don’t want to expand too much or scale up massively. You lose your soul and dilute what you offer. It’s unique being family-run.”

Another thing that sets the business apart is the fact Santina still makes her sauces from scratch each day in her kitchen, with “love, care and attention”.

“We’re honest about where our food comes from and we have confidence in what we do,” said Oli. “We believe we’re the best in Northamptonshire.”

His proudest achievement is that they started the business from nothing and it is now a sustainable concept with 10 employees – three of whom are full-time.

Winning their gold Weetabix Northamptonshire Food and Drink Award was also a highlight, as it “validated what they do and all the hard work people do not see behind the scenes”.

Oli said: “The prep is back-breaking. It’s all done by hand.”

Though price increases – particularly across food products and fuel – have proved a challenge, Santina’s has continued to do what they are good at with the same level of quality.

Another challenge has been managing the growth of the business, while ensuring they remain in control, keep the diary full, and employees in jobs.

Looking to the future, which Oli described as “exciting”, Santina’s has signed a lease on a unit with a commercial kitchen in Daventry.

The team will be moving from their current location in Badby to Daventry, which will become their HQ and enable them to cater for events and deliveries in that area of the county too.

They hope to maintain the growth of the business from Daventry and target a new audience in the town.

Santina’s started a new collaboration with The Olde Red Lion in Kislingbury on Tuesday (January 9). As the venue does not serve food on Mondays and Tuesdays, they saw the opportunity to offer their authentic pizzas and sold out on the first date.

The business also hopes to sign a contract with a farm in the Cotswolds soon, which will see their ingredients stocked there. “It’s massive for us,” said Oli.

Finally, DIY pizza kits were sent out as testers over Christmas and they will be officially launching in 2024 – so everyone can enjoy an authentic Santina’s pizza from home.

For more information, visit Santina’s Wood Fired Pizza Co’s website here.