19-year-old serves up hot pizza in South Goa’s Varca

Starting a business is tough, especially when it’s in the restaurant line. But, some make it look all easy, as does Frayne Gordon Fernandes, a 19-year-old student, who has opened a cloud kitchen — Pazzo Pizzas — at his home in Varca, South Goa.

At a time when pizzas are easily available, this young second year student of the Institute of Hotel Management, Porvorim, decided to take a leap and give people a taste of his culinary skills, one small step at a time.

“After the exams, my mother suggested that I look for work opportunities to keep myself busy and gain work experience. I decided to try something that I’m good at which was cooking,” says the shy, soft-spoken Frayne.

"While I was contemplating, my brother gave me the idea of baking pizzas and it took me almost six months to learn the art,” he recalls.

In the catering college, 'Italian dishes' is just one of the chapters that he had to study, and so, he had to learn the techniques through YouTube that led to a lot of trial and error.

“Initially, I started from my home oven, which wasn't really possible. So, I purchased a stone oven. And now, the pizzas are cooked in the stone oven,” says Frayne, who makes pizzas with a special homemade vodka sauce and chilli oil.

He serves nine pizzas — five non-veg and two veg — which include Pepperoni Classico, Meat Magnifico, with chicken and vodka sauce, Chicken Magnifico and the most loved Goan Chorizo.

In the veg range, he offers mushroom and vodka sauce and Classic Margarita, all priced from Rs 280 to Rs 380, for a 9-inch pizza.

Considering that he attends college on weekdays, Frayne gets only two days to open his store — Saturday and Sunday.

“On weekdays, I put all my efforts in my studies at IHM. But, on weekends, I immerse myself into baking. Everything is made from scratch — the dough, the supplies of veggies and meats and baking,” says Frayne, who believes that pre-orders help him prepare mentally.

While Frayne is the main brain behind Pazzo Pizzas, he is assisted in his business by his mother and two brothers.

“I have trained my brothers; my mother also helps me as there are days when I get over 20 orders. I cannot manage them all by myself. So, they also help with the orders,” says Frayne, who got noticed when a friend made a video which took the internet by storm.

“That one video did most of the advertising for me. Before that, I had started an Instagram page for my friends and to grow slowly. But then, that video came and it helped me a lot,” says Frayne, as he gets ready to start mixing the dough for Saturday’s and Sunday’s orders.

"I was planning to put out leaflets, but I got the help other way,” he shares.

DETAILS

NAME: Pazzo Pizzas

LOCATION: Guneavado Fatrade road, Varca, Salcete, South Goa

WHEN IT'S OPEN: Saturdays and Sundays (6 pm onwards)

CONTACT: +91 9172152157

E-MAIL: pazzofflicial@gmail.com

INSTAGRAM: @pazzooogoa

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