Our story
A dough company that happens to make pizza
Crust Club started in 2016 with a borrowed horsebox, a second-hand oven and a jar of sourdough starter. Ten years on, the starter is still going. So are we.
How it started
From horsebox to high street
Nico Ferraro learned to stretch dough at his uncle’s pizzeria in Salerno. Bea Kowalski was a pastry chef who’d never owned a van. They met at a Sunday market in Levenshulme, bought a horsebox between them and spent a summer burning pizzas until they stopped burning them.
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2016
The horsebox
Weekend markets across south Manchester. One oven, two people, about 140 pizzas on a good Saturday.
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2019
Ancoats opens
A tiny shop in an old mill outbuilding, with a hatch for slices and a waiting list for the dough fridge.
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2023
Chorlton
Our second shop, with a back yard, a bigger oven and our own riders on electric cargo bikes.
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Today
38 people, one starter
Around 1,900 pizzas a week, still from the same jar of Big Brenda we started with in 2016.
The dough
Four steps, two days, no shortcuts
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01
Feed Big Brenda
Our starter gets flour and water at 7am every day. By lunchtime she’s bubbly and ready.
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02
Mix
British stoneground wheat, a little Italian 00, water, salt and Brenda. Mixed slowly, never warm.
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03
Wait 48 hours
Balled by hand and left in the fridge for two days. Slow fermentation means flavour and an easy-to-digest crust.
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04
Bake for 90 seconds
Stretched to order and baked at 450°C, so the crust puffs and blisters and the middle stays soft.
Sourcing
Who we buy from
Local where it makes sense, Italian where it really matters. We visit every supplier at least once a year.
Tomatoes
Campania, Italy
Plum tomatoes from a growers’ co-operative near Salerno, crushed by hand in the kitchen every morning.
Flour
North Yorkshire and Naples
Stoneground British wheat from a family mill, blended with a little Italian 00 for stretch.
Basil & veg
Cheshire
Herbs, courgettes and salad from a market garden 20 miles away. In winter, mostly from Italy.
Meat
Lancashire and Calabria
Free-range pork pepperoni and fennel sausage from a Lancashire butcher; nduja from a small producer in Spilinga.
The people
Floury hands, big hearts
Nico Ferraro
Co-founder, dough boss
Still mixes the Monday dough himself. Has opinions about basil.
Bea Kowalski
Co-founder, everything else
Runs the shops, writes the menu and bakes the cookies.
Jide Adeyemi
Head pizzaiolo, Ancoats
Can stretch a 16-inch base in eleven seconds. We timed it.
Mai Rowe
Shop lead, Chorlton
Knows every regular’s order and most of their dogs’ names.
Things we won’t budge on
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Real Living Wage
For every member of staff, riders included, plus all of the tips.
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Compostable boxes
Unbleached card, vegetable inks, no plastic tables in the middle.
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Leftover dough
Goes to a food bank in Gorton as focaccia every Monday.