AFTER making pizza and pasta for more than three decades, everyone at Dial A Pizza clearly has the recipe for success.
And the talented team at the Sutton Oak Drive venue led by joint owners John Jones and Steven Neild are celebrating this week after taking the latest Best of 2023 award – St Helens’ Best for Pizza.
Each week, we will be searching for the best St Helens has to offer in different categories.
Hair by Alice Michelle took the first Best of 2023 title – Best for Hair in St Helens – and Blackburn’s is officially Best for Pies with Kreative Kirsty being crowned Best for Nails.
The Brown Edge Pub is Best for Roast Dinner, The Townhouse was announced as Best for Cocktails and Shakey J’s is Best for Breakfast.
Ashley-James Ward at Award Health and Fitness took Best for Fitness, Paul’s Fishbar was named Best for Fish and Chips and White Rabbit Tattoo Studio took the Best for Tattoos title.
Voting for St Helens’ Best for Pets is currently taking place and we’re also looking for nominations in our latest search - Best Independent Shop or Business.
Next on the menu was places to get a pizza the action and Dial A Pizza on Sutton Oak Drive beat off tough competition from nine other pizza places taking our latest Best of 2023 crown.
John and Steven opened the St Helens venue in March 1990 moving to live in the town shortly afterwards.
They serve a wide range of pizzas as well as beef burgers, kebabs and barbecue ribs employing 15 members of staff and open seven days a week.
They offer a pizza delivery service direct to your home, office or workplaces covering the whole of St Helens and surrounding areas including Prescot, Whiston and Burtonwood.
John and Steven were made redundant from the Merchant Navy in 1989 after being at sea for 11 years as chefs.
The pair travelled around the world stopping at ports and making notes about how pizza places were offering a delivery service – something which was rare at home in Liverpool.
John said: “We noticed St Helens only had one pizza place in the town centre, so we took over an industrial unit and converted it to a fully operational pizza kitchen and purchased two vans.
“We now operate six vehicles so the business has grown over the past 33 years.
“We had no previous business background but we had a mentor from Liverpool City Council, who was helping young people set up their own business, and we visited lots of business seminars to gain extra knowledge.
“We were involved in catering since the age of 16 so catering was something we knew a lot about.”
All Dial A Pizza deliveries are served by experienced staff who have worked with the company for more than 15 years and they guarantee 100 per cent pure mozzarella on all their pizzas with a dough base that has zero per cent salt.
Margherita pizzas are good sellers - cheese and tomato – together with the Arizona meat feast, which is topped with pepperoni, ham and American spicy sausage.
They also have popular specials including those from Hawaii, Kentucky and Nevada.
John said: “When we heard we’d made the shortlist for Best for Pizza we were excited and shared the news with our customers asking for their support.
“We’re ecstatic to win and have a sense of relief that we’re finally being recognised.
“We wouldn’t be here without our customers’ support and their backing of a local independent company.
“This award is testament to all our staff, past and present, and all their hard work.”
For more details go to facebook.com/dialapizza.sthelens
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