Introducing 'The Slice is Right': A new pizza start-up created by Luke Davies (Economics 2020)

Economics graduate Luke Davies has created a mobile pizza business and we caught up with him to find out more about this lockdown inspired start-up business...

Luke: The Slice is Right is a fully mobile pizza van, serving up delicious, traditional-style Neapolitan pizza. Based in Leeds, we aim to give you a real Italian experience at an affordable price. 

Our menu is strictly veggie/vegan and aims to showcase the best vegan products available on the market, meaning that you can enjoy a delicious pizza whilst minimising your impact on the environment. As well as catering private events and collaborating with local businesses to provide food options, we also host our own events, bringing together local talent so that people can enjoy a night of music and pizza.

The idea to launch The Slice is Right came to me during the lockdown. With little else to do, food became a hugely important part of my daily routine. It became a central point in my house where my family could all spend extra effort creating something tasty. But as well as getting me passionate about cooking, it also highlighted the joy of getting good, local, takeaway food. 

A pizza van would come through my village once a week, an event which quickly became a source of great anticipation and excitement whilst the world stood still. Inspired by this, I wanted to launch my own business doing something similar. I was also working fulltime throughout the pandemic as a refuse collector which gave me plenty of time to save up the money required to launch the business.

I applied successfully for the B-Enterprising Start-Up Fund and the grant allowed me to vinyl the pizza van with our logo and graphics, transforming it from an old and battered plain white van into something beautiful. Without the grant this would have been difficult to finance. Now the van fits in perfectly in street food markets and outside lovely venues, attracting loads of customers.

Without a doubt the best aspect of running your own business is that you could to directly reap the results of your own labour. Putting in all that time and effort is so worth it when you get off the ground running. I have created something that I am very proud of and I've learned skills that I will carry with me throughout the rest of my life. The worst aspect is the nerves that can come with it; the week before my launch party I was terribly anxious. Your business is a reflection of you, and if it fails it is very easy to feel like you have failed.

Hardest aspect of starting a business? I wish I had known how much time and effort it would require. There are so many aspects to starting a business that you don't anticipate and there is no step-by-step guide catered to every individual business. I wish I had taken advantage of the resources that were available to me, such as the B-Enterprising web pages. Definitely use whatever you have on offer to make your life easier!

For me, the biggest takeaway from my experience is that I am capable of setting myself a goal and achieving it. Although there were many challenges along the way and it took a little longer than I expected, I have created something which I will always be proud of. This will give me great confidence for any of my future endeavors.

Check us out on instagram or facebook (@_thesliceisright) and come say hi if you're ever in Leeds! Also, if you're considering starting something similar feel free to give me a shout! There is so much I wish I had known before starting up my business and I'd be more than happy to share.

With thanks to Luke Davies
Edited by Bob Lee