07 January 2024 , 18:04
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One of Greater Manchester's top-rate takeaways is nestled down a cobbled alleyway behind a row of terraces. There's a huge stone pizza oven over a wall and the restaurant is found behind a wooden gate in a small backyard.
It's been a year since Italian food fanatic Mark Fellows began making traditional Neapolitan pizzas in Stockport. Each weekend the alleyway behind Mark's home in Edgeley has queues of people eagerly waiting to sample his food.
Mark makes his pizzas from scratch using lots of ingredients imported from northern Italy, and has earned a perfect five-star rating on JustEat, the Manchester Evening News reports. The 51-year-old was a plasterer by trade until four years ago.
It had been his profession since leaving school, but in his spare time he always loved making pizza. He said: "I've always loved making pizza. My mum made pizza and I used to love watching her do it in our kitchen."
He's become a massive hit locally and has a 5 star rating on Just Eat (ABNM Photography)Prior to the pandemic, Mark made the decision to turn his hobby into a vocation, and set up NAPOLeZZA. "My knees were going, my elbows were going, my back was going," he added.
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"I was approaching my 50s, so more as a retirement plan I decided to go into business doing pizza. I started off doing pop-ups - Foodie Friday, outside pubs, campsites, weddings, parties... that sort of thing. People were loving it and asking when they could get another one.
"Half the time I didn't know when I was going to be back myself. I decided to set up here, more for repeat custom. It also meant I didn't have to fork out in pitch fees, which can run to a few hundred quid a week if you're out every day."
Mark runs Napolezza, a pizza business from the back garden of his home in Edgeley, Stockport (ABNM Photography)Mark considered renting a shop or café, but decided setting up at home made more financial sense. He uses his home on Bloom Street - which he shares with his daughter, her husband and his grandchildren - as his base. He has a sterile catering kitchen in his cellar so the council are able to accredit him, and he was awarded a five-star hygiene rating.
Mark's Gozney Master oven can be bought for approximately £18,000 and his pizzas are cooked in less than two minutes, with temperatures exceeding 500C. A gazebo covers the area where he stretches his handmade dough, dresses and finishes his pizzas, all ready for customers and couriers to pick up.
Mark runs Napolezza, a pizza business from the back garden of his home in Edgeley, Stockport where he has a huge wood fired oven (ABNM Photography)Mark added: "I was considering [renting] a premises, but we had Covid and then during the gas and electricity hike, it almost put [other people] out of business. This means I can pass the savings I make onto the customer. It's gone far better than expected.
"I thought it'd be quieter, not being seen as a shopfront. To start with, things went manic - through word of mouth and Facebook groups. Once a few people started posting photographs, the next thing I had queues of people out the gate, down the path and into the street.
One of Greater Manchester's top-rate takeaways is nestled down a cobbled alleyway behind a row of terraces (ABNM Photography)"I wasn't expecting it. I have much more of a handle on it now. I'm doing 100 or pizzas a night at weekends and about half that in the week. This harder graft than plastering. I'm open 4pm till 11pm six days a week. When I shut for an hour-and-a-half to two hours every night, I'm making dough.
"I'm not doing it specifically for the money - I'm doing it more for the love of pizza than anything. It pays the bills, but that's not why I'm doing it."
Pizza dough resting (ABNM Photography)Mark's neighbours have given him a helping hand along the way. "When I was setting up the oven, they were asking what it was as it looked like a spaceship," he added.
"Once it was up, I put 50 to 100 pizzas through it to test it and I gave them away to everyone, which endeared me to them. Now they love it and all buy them, so it's great.
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"People seem pleased I'm doing well. They don't seem annoyed there are queues."
A delicious pizza (ABNM Photography)Mark specialty is traditional Neapolitan pizza, which he makes according to the standards of the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN), which translates as The Neapolitan Pizza Association.
He uses San Marzano tomatoes, which are grown at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, a high grade superior Fior Di-Latte mozzarella cheese, alongside spianate piccante, which is the original Italian version of what's known as pepperoni from Italy.
He creates his own dough using Italian flour, yeast, salt and water, and lets it prove for almost 24 hours. Mark has had some professional assistance, but for the most part is self-taught.
Mark specialises in Neapolitan pizza (ABNM Photography)He also makes white pizza, without the tomato base, and a dessert pizza - a 'tear and share' Chocolate Starfish made by folding dough over chocolate hazelnut spread.
"When I started I just hoped that the pizza and ingredients would speak for themselves," he added. "I think they are doing."
The takeaway is open every day, except Mondays, from 4pm until 11pm and is available on Just Eat and Deliveroo. Mark encourages people to order directly from his website, where both collection or local delivery are available.