Rolling Pizza was set up by Dace McLellan in December 2023. Dace set up the business to fit around her two young children, meaning she can work around school drop off and pick up and can take them with her at weekends for a fun day out. Fitting the business around her family was a priority and she was able to make it work.

Dace converted an old horse box into a van with a wood-fired oven allowing her to cook fresh pizzas made to order from any location. The van travels across the region to fairs, shows, sports events, caravan parks and weddings, and has regular pitches at venues, including Kilmartin Hotel, Machrihanish Holiday Park and Lochgilphead Caravan Park.

She approached Business Gateway last year when the idea for the business first began.

With support and guidance from her local adviser, Donald Melville, she accessed start-up funding through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund which helped with the initial set-up costs.

She was also offered advice on cash flow forecasting, allowing her to monitor the financial performance of the business to address any concerns early on. With all of the building blocks in place, the business is now booming with Dace expanding her offering.

Business Gateway also arranged for some one-to-one support from a digital expert, to help her get the most out of her social media accounts. She recently set up an online booking system to allow visitors at select sites to pre-book their orders and select a pick-up time.

Customers can go onto the Rolling Pizza website and pre-book their pizzas for a specific pitch and pick a time to pick it up. This guarantees her custom for each pitch and provides an idea of how much of each ingredient Dace will need. She does always take extra for those who haven’t pre-booked as well.

The pre-order system has proved popular with customers, with the van selling out on many occasions.

Dace McLellan, owner of Rolling Pizza, said: “Donald and the team at Business Gateway were a huge support to me when setting up Rolling Pizza and have continued to be now we’re up and running.

“The online system has been great for encouraging people to pre-order and gives me an indication of potential earnings and I couldn’t have done that without Business Gateway.

“Being in a rural area can often make it more difficult to find business support, but Donald has been a fantastic help and I really appreciate his guidance.”

Donald Melville, Business Gateway adviser, said: “Dace has been doing so well, especially considering she began just a few months ago. She has got a great set-up and we’ve been happy to support her on her journey and to provide her with advice that’s been key to starting and growing her business.”