The founder of a popular Dumbarton pizzeria opened during lockdown has said it was surreal to be named as one of the best in the country.
DJ Stephen Kirkwood fulfilled a lifelong dream by setting up Bangin’ Pizza alongside fellow DJ, and pal, Steven Galloni, earlier this year – after the pandemic forced their music business, SKapade Studios, to take a backseat.
The career change has certainly been a successful one, with the Dumbarton East business named as runner-up in the prestigious Scottish Italian Awards Best Pizza prize.
Reflecting on a whirlwind 11 months, Stephen told the Lennox: “It’s totally amazing considering we’ve not even been open for a year.
“It’s been a long-term passion of mine, making pizza and learning the science of the dough.
“When the music businesses flopped because of lockdown we made the decision to take over the wee roll shop. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind since then.
“To be involved in the prestigious Italian awards alongside the cream of Italian restaurants and businesses was quite surreal.
“The way it’s exploded has been amazing. It was high-risk. But everything was reset over Covid, so we put in the hard work and the energy and now that’s paying off.
“It’s mad. To now have an award-winning shop is absolutely nuts.
“If you were to say that to me in 2019 I’d have said ‘absolutely no chance’.
“To have such an overwhelmingly positive response from so many people; from young kids who draw pictures of the shop that we hang up, to retired couples who come in for a weekly pizza means a lot.
“It’s a social thing. Pizza is made to be shared. It brings family and friends together for good times, that’s what it’s designed for.
“It’s really made us happy. Especially in the dark world we live in at the moment.
“One pizza at a time we’re looking to bring a bit of hope and a bit of positivity to the area.
Inspired by old recipes that had been shared to them by Galloni’s grandmother, the Dumbarton lads brought the art of authentic Italian pizza crafting to their hometown.
And for Stephen it shares similarities with his first love – music.
He continued: “Every pizza that leaves our shop has to be bangin’, it has to be a 10/10. There’s no cutting corners. As long as we focus on the quality of each pizza then everything else should fall into place.
“That’s the mantra that we’ve got.
“We have a small menu, and each pizza we do is a work of art. It’s a bit like the music industry in that way. Each track you work on you spend so much time to make sure it’s perfect.
“We approach the pizza in an artistic way. We make the best possible pizza with the best possible ingredients, not the cheapest way.”
Stephen also revealed that he has big plans moving forward – starting with a special festive pizza.
“We’re developing our Christmas pizza just now. It’s certainly quite an interesting one,” he explained.
“We love doing our specials and changing them every few weeks with different seasonal produce that comes in from Italy.
“We’re keeping the specials up in the new year, and we’re going to add a lunchtime menu with mini pizzas and fries.
“We’ve got our partnership with Dumbarton’s stadium which is great, and we’re looking at getting a wee pizza truck which we’re hoping to take to events and festivals.
“You can almost rush these businesses and expand too quickly at times, so I’m taking it slowly. You can shoot yourselves in the foot sometimes.
“We’ve still got a lot to accomplish with the shop in Dumbarton.”
