Fylde pizza specialist thinks outside the box to cook up a new business idea during lockdown

Instead Alex Walker launched a Vegan Pizza Home Kit business, Doughnations , which aims to feed the nation with a slice of goodwill.

Alex has been serving his artisan pizzas at events and festivals around the UK since 2019 and is now delivering Pizza Home Kits direct to customer’s doors.

Originally from Blackpool but now based in St Annes, Alex had aspirations of opening his own vegan pizzeria in 2020, but like so many small independent businesses, the Covid-19 pandemic forced him to adapt and diversify.

Alex said: “I’m very passionate about my product and everything Doughnations stands for. There’s been a bigger consumer shift to plant-based living over recent years and a demand for new vegan food, and so 2020 was the year I planned to open my own organic vegan pizzeria...but Covid-19 had other ideas.

"I used lockdown as an opportunity to diversify my service style with the launch of Vegan Pizza Home Kits, and what better month to launch than Veganuary. The response has been amazing; on launch day the kits sold out in an hour from customers around the UK and I even received a shipping enquiry from someone in Australia.

“I have always focussed on serving quality than quantity and use only the finest organic ingredients. Our 125-year-old Sourdough beat more than 10,000 other entries to win two stars at the British Great Taste Awards 2020 and the flour we use is exclusive to us and comes from a small, multi-generational family farm in Sicily.

“My kits come with all the ingredients you need to make three vegan pizzas and one garlic bread, with simple step-by-step instructions. Alex has been living a plant-based lifestyle since 2013, has switched to sustainable packaging to be kind to the environment, with 100 per cent of the home kits either biodegradable or recyclable.

He is looking to support Blackpool public sector organisation or charities with a pizza donation.

If you would like to nominate a local charity who would benefit from a Doughnations pizza donation, please message Alex on Instagram @doughnationsuk.

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