We Love Pizza | Chalmers News PR

Restaurateur marks Covid anniversary with Local Legends campaign

Posted on March 27, 2021 by admin

TO MARK a year since the first lockdown, a Leamington restaurateur wants to say a special thank you to local unsung heroes who have made a positive difference in their community.

Through his new Local Legends Campaign, Jose Ribeiro, of We Love Pizza, aims to reward six people who live or work in the Warwickshire, area, with a feast of pizza.

Between May and October, each winner will be presented with a WLP voucher for £120 to be used throughout the following month.

It might be someone who has gone that extra mile to help their isolated neighbours, launched an initiative to help emergency workers or made a huge difference to an individual’s life by a simple – but significant – act of kindness.

Jose, whose restaurant has been closed more than open since it launched in September last year, wants to give something back to the community that has supported his business throughout those months.

He said: “We are so grateful for the kindness and support that’s been shown at such difficult times, both to everyone in general and the hospitality industry.

“We are passionate about celebrating our local legends and highlighting the kindness, courage, humanity or ingenuity they have shown during the Coronavirus pandemic. These are core values that are very close to our brand and ethos and we hope will make us better as a society for the future.”

We Love Pizza, Local Legends — Detroit Pizza is available from WLP from mid-April.

The Local Legends Campaign also marks the launch, next month, of the latest addition to We Love Pizza’s handcrafted Detroit style pizza line – as they bring Detroit to Leamington.

A recipe that’s been popular in the Motor City of America since 1946, Detroit style pizza is made from a traditional thick, light and airy Sicilian style dough.

The key ingredient in a proper Detroit-style pizza, however, isn’t the ingredients – but rather the pan itself! The characteristics of the square pizza – soft and airy square crust, crunchy exterior and caramelised cheese – are due to the thick steel deep pans in which they are baked. These pans were originally used to transport parts on the car assembly lines – and have been specially imported to the restaurant from the States for a truly authentic Detroit pizza experience.

Jose said: “We are always on the hunt here in Leamington, for the best pizzas in the world, and take pride in bringing innovation to the market.

“Countless hours were spent testing and perfecting every detail here to create our take on Detroit-Style pizza. The caramelised cheese crust and the sauce on top take the taste to the next level.”

He added: “We also pride ourselves on delivering ‘affordable quality’ to customers by using only the best and most nutritious flour combinations and implementing exact temperature control and longer fermentation periods for the sourdough.

“While perfection is impossible, great things can happen if you pursue it with passion. It’s that constant ‘quest for perfection’ that is the essence of We Love Pizza.”

The restaurant, which hopes to reopen on May 17th, is still offering a delivery and click and collect service seven days week from 12 midday to 10pm. Orders can be made via a click and collect app, downloadable from the We Love Pizza website or for delivery (£1.50 for orders over £15.) There is also a £10 discount on all orders over £25 from first-time customers.

To nominate a We Love Pizza Local Legend, just tell us their name, email address and where they live and, in no more than 200 words, why you believe they deserve to win. Please also send a photo of them if possible, although this is not essential.

Send it to: amanda@chalmersnewspr.co.uk by Friday, April 23^rd. including Local Legends in the subject line.

Visit We Love Pizza at: www.welovepizza.uk

Terms and Conditions: The Local Legends campaign is open to anyone who lives or works in the Warwickshire area. Each winner will be entitled to one £30 voucher per week throughout their chosen month, totalling £120 for the month. The prize cannot be exchanged for its cash value and no correspondence can be entered into. Each voucher can be redeemed for eat-in or takeaway up to the value of £30 a week towards the total spend on anything from the menu but cannot be carried over. Booking is subject to availability. We Love Pizza cannot be held responsible for any future closures due to further COVID-19 restrictions in 2021.

Restaurateur cooks up a plan to help the homeless

Posted on December 10, 2020 by admin

A new Leamington restaurant is supporting its local community this Christmas by joining forces with a charity that helps the homeless.

We Love Pizza, in Regent Place, is supplying its leftover food at the end of the day to Helping Hands Community Project soup kitchen which provides hot food to hundreds of people a month.

It comes at a particularly welcome time for the volunteers, who are gearing themselves up for an increased demand over Christmas.

We Love Pizza, Jose Ribeiro, homeless, Helping Hands — Jose Ribeiro is greeted by some of the soup kitchen customers.

The soup kitchen was taken over by Helping Hands six years ago after originally being started by a Christian couple with a van outside Leamington Police station. But during COVID-19, they have instead had to adapt to providing takeaway meals from a van parked outside their Althorpe Street premises.

Sue Verne, who heads it up, said: “Before COVID-19 we used to serve food inside the premises, unfortunately we have to serve outside at the moment on a takeaway basis. Only four people are allowed to serve in the kitchen at any one time in order for us to keep a safe distance.

She added: “The pizza is a welcome treat and very much appreciated. We are so grateful for this vital support for the most vulnerable people in our area at this particularly challenging time.”

The soup kitchen van serves from Monday to Thursday 6:30-7:30pm as well as offering a takeaway breakfast on Tuesdays – and even the occasional birthday cake – but will not be able to hold its popular annual Christmas party this year.

The charity also provides sleeping bags, quilts, clothing, footwear and toiletries as well as additional seasonal support such as warm water for hot water bottles and waterproofs in winter and sun cream in summer.

Jose Ribeiro, owner of We Love Pizza, was determined to work with the community despite his business facing its own challenges against the backdrop of the pandemic. He was forced to close his restaurant throughout the second national lockdown and tier 3 restrictions, just weeks after first launching in September and is now operating a takeaway and click and collect service.

But he said: “I always knew I wanted to create a social enterprise so there is a charitable element to what we do as well. We want to use our food to impact positively on society and people’s lives so decided to work with a charity which can benefit from our surplus food at the end of each day.

“Since we moved in just a few weeks ago, we have been warmly welcomed by our new community and it is a pleasure to be able to already start to give something back. We sincerely hope that by supporting the fantastic work of this local charity we’re actively able to do that.”

“My partner and I want to become positive members of the local community. We have that obligation to help people out that need us, especially right now.”

Jose and his team at the artisan pizza restaurant, pride themselves on delivering ‘affordable quality’ to customers by using only the best and most nutritious flour combinations and implementing exact temperature control and longer fermentation periods for the sourdough. Fresh ingredients, sourced directly from Italy as well as locally, are prepared by a team of five chefs from four corners of the globe.

Visit: https://welovepizza.uk/

Anyone interested in supporting, donating or volunteering at the soup kitchen, or wants to learn more about how to get involved with Helping Hands, is invited to visit: https://www.helpinghandscharity.org.uk/

Restaurateur vows new business will survive and thrive despite second pandemic lockdown

Posted on November 5, 2020 by admin

THE OWNER of a new Warwickshire restaurant which suffered huge delays to its opening, has vowed it’s here to stay despite hanging up the closed sign for the start of a second national lockdown this week.

We Love Pizza finally launched in September despite taking over the lease of the Leamington unit in February – and although, due to the pandemic, the restaurant is closed again to diners from today, entrepreneur Jose Ribeiro says he’ll fight hard to protect his business in the weeks ahead.

We Love Pizza, Leamington, Jose Ribeiro, lockdown, hospitality — Jose Ribeiro at his restaurant in Regent Street, Leamington

But it’s a battle he claims the industry should not be having to face again.

Jose, 50, said: “When this latest lockdown was announced on Saturday my first thought was ‘here we go again.’ Eight months down the line and we still have the same sorry state of affairs. How can we still be going through the same stages and using the same measures? Nothing has changed and this is something that I struggle to accept.

“We have followed all the scientific evidence but where are the lessons learned? There has not been enough evolution or changes put into place to allow us to effectively tackle this situation. The Government is just resorting to closing the industry again. The businesses that suffer the most from the first lockdown are going to be the ones who suffer the most again.”

He added: “I feel it is frustrating to say the least that we’re not further down the line with the process. We can’t control how the virus spreads but what we could have done is to put procedures in place that would have allowed us to this time take less prohibitive actions, being more targeted and more focused, rather than just shutting down the whole sector again.

“I can’t accept the argument that hospitality businesses are COVID super spreaders because the stats show different. Public Health figures state just 2% of the cases have come from the hospitality sector.

“A lot of businesses have gone to a great deal of effort to minimise their risk, while there are some businesses out there who are disregarding the measures because the owners are irresponsible – only these should be the ones we’re targeting for closure. There are lots of businesses operating very safely and are very conscious of the welfare of their customers and staff but we’re all being penalised.”

Jose is certainly no stranger to the hospitality and entertainment industries, having worked as a consultant for the last 26 years, his projects atking him around the world, including New Zealand, Australia and the USA. But it while working as general manager at Leamington’s Bedford Street live music venue for the last three years, that he aspired to open his first restaurant.

He said: “My partner Geanina and I always wanted to open our own concept, something that we could establish as a brand and could scale. We believe that pizza is a simple product but when it’s done with care and love and the right ingredients and with the right processes in place, it can be delicious, but healthy as well.

“Geanina and I are big pizza fans and so the name of the restaurant was an obvious choice, We Love Pizza.”

The ambitious entrepreneur prides himself on delivering ‘affordable quality’ to his customers by using only the best and most nutritious flour combinations and implementing exact temperature control and longer fermentation periods for the sourdough. Fresh ingredients, sourced directly from Italy as well as locally, are prepared by a team of five chefs from four corners of the globe.

But as Jose contemplates the uncertainty of the weeks ahead, he pledges to work even harder to get his product to people’s tables with a new army of delivery drivers, click and collect system and two brand new offers for lockdown – Rule of Six Package (six pizzas delivered for £36) and Pizza and Prosecco (starter, two pizzas, Nutella and Strawberry Pizza dessert and bottle of Prosecco delivered for £35).

And neither has the ongoing pandemic diminished his long-term vision for the We Love Pizza brand, with ambitious plans to open five more restaurants in the Midlands over the next three years.

Jose said: “We want to grow organically and eventually also hope to take our concept and brand to other towns such as Rugby, Stratford, Coventry, Solihull and Oxford.”

In the meantime, it’s business – almost – as usual for team, who are keen to establish a valuable role for their restaurant in the local community.

He said: “I want to create a social enterprise so there will be a charitable element to what we do as well. We want to use our food to impact positively on society and people’s lives so are looking to work with charities which can benefit from our surplus food at the end of each day.

“As well as hospitality operators we are human beings and my partner and I want to become positive members of the local community. We have that obligation to help people out that need us, especially right now.”