Sweden’s favourite stone-baked home pizzas

At the Tony’s Pizza factory in Nyköping, skilful bakers make delicious stone-baked pizzas the traditional way. Each one is made by hand, before being frozen for perfect freshness. That’s why this Swedish frozen-pizza brand is quickly becoming one of the nation’s favourites.

By Marie Westerman Roberts | Photos: Foodster

The story starts in 1976, when Danne Gerasovski opened the restaurant Pizzeria Fazana in Nyköping. His son Tony Gerasovski, owner of Tony’s Pizzas, grew up with the family restaurant, and eventually started baking the pizzas himself. In 2011, aged 26, he participated in the Swedish Pizza Baking Championship. He won first place and was named Sweden’s Best Pizza Baker – and this is where the Tony’s Pizza journey begins.

Gerasovski, who by now had gained entrepreneurial experience from outside the food industry too, was struck by an idea to make premium frozen pizzas. “The idea came about on a Sunday, actually!” Gerasovski laughs. His vision was for pizzas of the same quality as those in the family restaurant, that would be available in the local grocery store chains of the Swedish supermarket ICA. The project began in 2013 and his dream became a reality in February 2014. Now, Tony’s Pizza can be found in local freezers and the response from customers has been enthusiastically positive. www.foodster.se

The great reception saw demand for Tony’s Pizza skyrocket. In 2015, after six months of doing it all himself, Gerasovski began a larger-scale production at the old Konservkompaniets premises in Nyköping. His sister Tanja joined the company, and they got a central listing at ICA supermarket for several of their products.

Then, Coop became a customer, and other supermarkets and convenience stores quickly followed. “It all just exploded,” says Gerasovski. 32 employees are now working for Tony’s Pizza and the company is still growing.

Gerasovski explains the success: “We have products that we’re really proud of. We use locally sourced ingredients as much as possible. Everything is made from scratch with solid craftsmanship... and we pack the pizzas in real pizza boxes!” Last year they baked a total of two million pizzas, and they are expecting to hit three million in 2023. The successful pizza factory is now expanding even further and exporting their products to Norway and Denmark, bringing Tony’s Pizza to pizza-lovers even further afield.

Instagram: @tonyspizzafabrik

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