Covid-19: Bristol chef who lost all his work starts selling own pizza

Giuseppe Delfino works out of his home kitchen

A chef who lost all his income during lockdown found a new living selling pizza to friends and neighbours.

Giuseppe Delfino worked in a Bristol restaurant for 15 years before becoming a chef-for-hire just before the pandemic hit.

With no work and a family to support, he turned to his Neapolitan roots and perfected his own pizza recipe.

Other people in the city also say they are using their skills to get an income from home.

"Giving pizza is like giving a smile, and people needed that during lockdown," said Mr Delfino, 39.

"Naples is the capital of pizza and also my hometown. We Neapolitans have pizza in our genes."

He took the decision to sign up as an agency chef earlier this year, before the pandemic became an issue in the UK.

'Phone stopped ringing'

"At the time there was plenty of work," he said.

"Then the pandemic hit and my phone stopped ringing."

Having always had a dream to have his own business, Mr Delfino used his free time to work on his pizza recipe, initially giving the pizzas to those living in his street.

"I'm a bit of a perfectionist so it took some time but once I was happy I began asking my neighbours to give me feedback and I was overwhelmed with how much they loved them," he said.

Mr Delfino makes his pizzas in the style made famous by his home city of Naples

He has now made his business official by linking up with a new Bristol venture called All About The Cooks which matches home chefs direct to their customers.

Illustration student Karrie Mannan, an amateur cook, said demand for her chicken wings through the website was helping pay for her studies.

Ms Mannan, 33, said she had had to buy a second fryer to satisfy the number of orders she was getting.

"Being a student meant I didn't have the money to eat out as much so I began cooking a lot more at home and seemed to land on a chicken recipe that people loved," she said.

Cooks who join the platform have to achieve a minimum of a four-star hygiene rating with Bristol City Council and are vetted before they can begin selling.

Karrie Mannan said she had to buy a second fryer to deal with demand

Joe Kang, also in Bristol, makes and sells jewellery under the name Red Bird Makes.

When non-essential shops closed in March, she lost all of her stockists across the UK and now Christmas markets which she said were a "huge" part of her income.

Ms Kang said she had had to be far more proactive with her normal revenue streams gone.

Joe Kang has had to be become a saleswoman after the shops which stock her jewellery closed

"I've had to be a lot more present on my own social media channels, which is time consuming but it's been great to see the response from customers," she said.

"The challenge is that the situation keeps changing but I have found selling myself from home has helped to bridge the gap."

Sarah Trevelyan took up sewing seriously when she lost her acting work

Sarah Trevelyan, 44, revived a childhood love of sewing when she lost all her acting work when lockdown began in March.

Responding to the need for reusable masks, Mrs Trevelyan made and sold enough to pay for some sessions with a business coach.

Now, as well as taking on bespoke commissions such as one-off dresses, she now has an income from a new business selling sewing kits under the name sarahlovestosew.

"We're all stuck at home and I actually find sewing very beneficial," she said.

"You get that dopamine hit because you are completing a project, and lots of people have more time to learn, or re-learn, this skill."