Enjoy Authentic Wood-Fired Pizzas from the Pizza Project
When we were introduced to a new street-food vendor, serving authentic wood-fired pizza, made in an authentic way, we went along to meet Jonny McCoy and the Pizza Project to find out what started him on this venture and to sample some of his pizzas for ourselves. 
Three years ago Jonny McCoy was a data analyst, with a maths degree, working in insurance. Today he is a passionate chef, creating authentic street food in the form of wood-fired pizzas for the locals in Reigate, Merstham, Sanderstead and surrounding areas. As well as feeding the community, Jonny takes his pizza project far and wide at the weekends, supplying fresh pizzas on site for your parties and celebrations, including corporate events and festivals.
Starting out with an idea after a festival trip, where he saw a similar pizza vendor, Jonny has left the office environment behind and replaced his working day with something he is completely committed to, enthusiastic in perfecting and serving the best pizzas possible on a regular basis.
On a busy day, producing six pizzas every 10 minutes is no mean feat but Jonny and his team, including Thomas Everett (head chef) and Pippa, a local teacher who is a customer turned employee, manage to keep up a good flow of pace, supplying the steady stream of customers who are putting in their orders.
In fact, even before the pop-up is completely installed for the day, the first customer has walked by and ordered their pizzas for later that evening as they left work and headed home. And that is the simplicity and beauty of these pop-up sites. People can leave their offices and place of work and simply order their meal as they pass by to go home. Once they are in and changed and recharged from their day, they just walk back along to the stall and collect their pizza at their chosen time.
Most of the orders are produced to the minute, and if there is likely to be a delay Jonny will let you know as you order. For those that want to order and go, the pizzas take only two minutes in the 400 degree oven and with a top and bottom temperature alignment it means the end pizza is cooked and heated through from all angles in a very short time.
With a few minutes in prep time; all the ingredients are prepared, chopped and packed fresh in the morning, in less than five minutes you can be walking away with your freshly ordered pizza. Regulars even order throughout the day via the website, email or with a quick call.
The Pizza Project may have started on a whimsical idea, from a desire to be in a more varied role, but the company has thought through every aspect of business - and most of all they have put an enormous amount of effort and time into creating the perfect pizza dough. 
Even the weather forecast for the days ahead is gauged with the making of the dough. Fluctuations in temperature are taken into account for the rise and yeast content. Taking advice and instruction from world champion pizza maker, Francesco Santocono, Jonny and his team have the quality training to bring you the perfect traditional thin-crust Neapolitain-style pizza every time!
There is NO compromise on flavour or ingredient quality, with many of the weekly 'Specials' containing only British meats. Fresh ingredients are delivered in direct from New Covent Garden Market, the finest Italian tomatoes are used for the sauce and cured meats come in from Cannon & Cannon, the British Charcuterie Boys.
A 5* hygiene rating for kitchen and outside from Croydon Council shows that Jonny is as serious about food service standards as the food he serves. For us, we couldn't fault our pizza. On flavour, texture and most importantly digestion, it came out tops - so much so that we popped back later to buy some more - and we can see this being something of a habit forming action. When it comes to buying pizza and getting it in take-away we know who we will be recommending to our friends in the future.
For more information visit https://pizzaproject.co.uk/ and check out our pictures from the day on Flickr