Husband and wife duo, Jo and James are the driving force behind Village Pizza Kitchen, a very fortunate product of the pandemic… we don’t get to say that so often! When the pandemic hit Jo worked in the travel industry – one of the worst-hit industries which saw her go from furlough to redundancy. Her husband James, a trained chef who had been working in the wine industry for over 20 years teamed up with Jo to trial a pop-up in the village they had lived in for the past 13 years – “The Village Kitchen”. Following the local success of The Village Kitchen, the pair decided to develop their concept, thus the Village Pizza Kitchen (VPK) was born!

Located in Hurstpierpoint in West Sussex, VPK’s vision of using British and local homegrown ingredients has guaranteed the popularity of each lovingly put-together dish! As well as thoroughly researching and sourcing each ingredient used, Jo and James took their time in selecting the perfect oven for their business, turning to LLK for guidance. “One of the things that we loved about working with Team LLK, was the fact that we were able to go and test the Cuppone Donatello ovens in their test kitchen. This enabled us to experience the ovens first-hand and gave us real confidence that we were investing in the right type of oven for our business.”, commented Jo on her experience of working with LLK to select her faithful Donatello pizza oven. “We love our Cuppone Donatello because we can always ensure consistency, it is easy to use, and it hasn't gone wrong”

Jo and James worked alongside our resident pizza oven guru Kyle, to help them determine which oven would deliver consistent results whilst remaining energy efficient – two important aspects they were looking for. “Kyle was super helpful in answering the many questions we had when we visited, as well as the many follow-up questions we asked! Both Kyle and Jenna have continued to offer a very responsive, friendly and helpful after-sales service since we bought the ovens, and they will certainly remain our first port of call for future pizza oven purchases”.

Jo and James painstakingly developed their signature dough and VPK tomato sauce, which has proved hugely popular in Hurstpierpoint and beyond!. They take pride in using homegrown British ingredients, many of which are locally sourced, and make many of their toppings from scratch. Their pizza menu is both varied and amusing, with specials that play on words as well as tastebuds!

At the heart of VPK is a simple passion for producing delicious food, Jo says “My favourite thing about running Village Pizza Kitchen is the fantastic feedback we receive from our customers and also working with such a lovely bunch of people!” Their diligence in honing their craft and using only the finest British ingredients has guaranteed their popularity for good wholesome food. “We hope that 2023 will be the year of expansion for VPK, we have some exciting plans in the pipeline so watch this space!” The VPK team recently placed second in not one but two prestigious categories at the National Pizza Awards, placing in both “National Pizza of the Year” and “National Pizza chef of the year” – go check out their award-winning pizza for yourselves!