A MOBILE food business is ready to defend its title as champion in an industry competition later this year.

Fire & Dough, a mobile pizza company, will compete against other food traders in Slice Wars, which they were named Champions in 2022.

Slice Wars is family-friendly and is hosted by Wylam Brewery.

It is an annual dog-friendly event with free entry, and no ticket required. 

This year the competition will be held on April 28 and 29. On Friday it is open from 5pm until midnight and Saturday from midday until midnight

Fire & Dough are known for selling Neapolitan-style pizza around Tyne Valley and was founded by Hexham residents John Nicholson and Ross Keady who set it up in 2018.

The company later became a family affair as Ross’ sister Erin Keady joined the business.

Since starting the company the business has employed a number of people from the local area.

Reflecting on the company's progress and how the company was resilient during Covid-19, Erin said: "Although we lost a lot of events and private bookings during Covid, we were lucky to still be able to operate as a takeaway and serve our community.

"Since Covid, we’ve built up some great relationships with some fantastic wedding venues and offer event catering which has been great fun.

"We’ve also started trading at some of the biggest music festivals around the UK with a really exciting summer ahead.

"We were so happy to win Slice Wars in 2022.

“It is a brilliant food event where all the mobile pizza traders in the North East battle it out for the best pizza in the area.

"We were really proud of being named the best when we competed against 12 other traders and we are really looking forward to trying to defend our title at the end of April.

"The business is doing really well and Fire & Dough will be looking to employ a number of summer staff to join us on the road from May onwards, so we are urging anyone to get in touch at info@fireanddough.co.uk if you’re interested."