New pizza place opens in former Dough&Co site in Halstead

Former owner of Dough and Co on Halstead High Street, Tomas Zuj, 37, decided to close the restaurant earlier this year, feeling it wasn’t affordable enough for the community.

The Bishop Stortford resident took over ownership of the site earlier this year, after working at the company’s head office since 2018.

Tomas said: “I met the previous owner, Chris, in 2018.”

“I started helping to build up the business and I eventually took over.

“I felt like something wasn’t right with Dough and Co and I wanted to do it differently.”

Tomas said he wants to ensure families can enjoy the luxury of eating out while not having to worry about costs, so had priced the menu of the new restaurant, Fired Up Pizza, at a more "affordable" rate.

Refurbishments began after the former site closed, with Tomas and members of the community working hard to finish the works in time for the opening.

Tomas said: “I was doing all the painting and furnishing on my own with the help of some locals.

“We accidentally bought the wrong paint, so the restaurant is bright orange, but it made the customers laugh.”

The new pizza restaurant was launched last weekend and "ran out of food" on Sunday due to being "so busy".

“Dough and Co didn’t feel 100 per cent me – but Fired Up Pizza definitely does," Tomas said.

“It needed doing up so badly – everyone used it as a takeaway, barely anyone came inside.

“I want the restaurant to be accessible and affordable – especially leading up to Christmas.”

Locals took to Facebook with glowing reviews after visiting Fired Up Pizza last weekend (Image: Facebook) He added: “The opening was really good, really busy.”

“Friday and Saturday we had really good feedback from customers and Sunday was so busy we actually ran out of food.

“That’s never happened before, and we will make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“People were coming all day, it was nice – we just want to offer something different.”

Fired Up Pizza’s menu offers a range of different pizzas, including its most popular cheese and tomato and pepperoni.

It offers a selection of sizes, including pizza slices.

Owner, Tomas hopes the new restaurant’s busy environment will continue.

He said: “I want to allow families to enjoy their time out without money worries.”

“I know how business works – you bring something new and everyone wants to try it.

“But I want that consistently – we want to offer something for everyone.”

For more information, visit fireduppizzahalstead.co.uk.