Cugini Pizza began during the final lockdown of 2021, when family members began selling freshly prepared creations cooked in their outdoor brick oven, and the proposition has since grown into a fully fledged pop up, first finding a home-from-home at Bolton’s Edgworth Cricket Club. In many ways though, the concept was always meant to be – the team have fond memories of their Nonno (grandad) running his own restaurant in the 70s. They also recall growing up with a masonry oven set up in the garden, something that would bring the clans together and reflects the generations of heritage behind the Cugini operation.
“We got off to a crazy start, our first week was just for family, around 20 pizzas. The following week, we opened it up to friends and sold around 50… Soon, we were selling 100’s of pizzas every Saturday night,” the trio — Dini Clark, Connor Close, and Callum Tombs — explain. “As restrictions eased that summer, we were invited to do a pop up on Friday nights at Edgworth Cricket Club. We set up in their outdoor kitchen and it went really well, so we decided to go full time from their venue. Since then, in 2022, we decided to buy a pizza van and then also moved into the kitchen at Ramsbottom Cricket Club. We offer delivery, dine in and collection at both sites, and our pizza van is out and about all over Greater Manchester.”
Enough said. As for the menu, options include classics like Marinara, Margherita, Pepperoni, and Ham & Shrooms, alongside more unique creations. That could be the Vesuvio (tomato base, mozzarella, roquito peppers, roasted peppers and chilli), The Zola (tomato, mozzarella, gorgonzola, olives, and Cugini hot honey), and Carlofortina (pesto base, mozzarella, tuna, cherry tomatoes, oregano, and San Marzano basil). Not forgetting the appropriately named Hells Bells (nduja, fresh chillies, roquito peppers, hot honey) and Meaty AF (tomato, mozzarella, pepperoni, ham, Milano salami, nduja). Kids can pick between the Mini Marg(herita) or Piccolo Pep(peroni), and the garlic bread is nothing short of delicious, too.