Instagram boss and rap star top off Tom's pizza oven investment success
POSTING a crowd funding appeal to take his world class stone oven business to the next level, Tom Gozney set a 30-day limit to achieve £500,000.
Just over an hour later, that target had been passed and it now stands at over £1.2m.
Among the investors pledging to back Lymington-born Tom’s plans to expand were Instagram founder Mike Krieger, hotelier Robin Hutson of Limewood and The Pig hotels, and rapper Professor Green.
Mr Krieger has a Roccbox at his own home. He said: “I purchased my first last year and it's incredible.
"When I learnt Gozney were seeking investment I decided to back them as I feel they have amazing global growth potential.”
Mr Hutson revealed how The Pig at Brockenhurst was one of the first hotels to install a Gozney oven.
He said: “I’m investing in Gozney because it’s a great product, I think it’s the best on the market, it’s well-proven, we’ve got five of them commercially in our hotels and I’ve even got one at home.”
Other backers of Tom include Don Henshall, former CEO of Farrow and Ball; Keith Abel, founder of organic food box company Abel and Cole; and former BBC director Greg Dyke.
The eclectic mix of investors seem united in one thing – they believe Tom can achieve his vision of “fast expansion into overseas territories” and his aim to increase company revenue by seven-and-a-half times over the next five years.
That is hardly surprising when you consider that less than a decade ago Tom (34) was operating his fledgling business, which is now worth £19.8m, out of a spare bedroom and using his garage as a distribution hub.
Founded eight years ago, his company grew from a disastrous night making pizza for friends – where Tom became so frustrated by how soggy they turned out he decided to build his own stone oven in the garden.
He now heads Britain's top manufacturer of wood and gas fired stone ovens. His company was recently ranked 12th out of 100 fastest growing companies in the Sunday Times SME Export Track 2019 which recognised its strong international growth.
The company was top in the south west region in the league table with the Roccbox – a compact, portable stone oven – singled out, as exports of the product have grown an average of 148% a year, earning £3m this year.
His commercial stone ovens – with their signature ‘G’ – can be seen in leading restaurants all over the UK including Chewton Glen, River Cottage and pizza chain Franco Manca.
Personal clients include Tom Aikens, Paul Hollywood, Sarah Beeny, Hairy Biker Si King, Jean Christophe Novelli and Richard Branson – who flew Tom out to his holiday resort Necker Island to build one.
Now Tom is making company shares available to the public using a crowdfunding website where people can invest as little as £10 to over £100,000.
Tom said: “Crowdfunding is a method of raising capital growth but it also gives our customers and local people the ability to be part of Gozney’s growth. This gives people the chance to be part of our business.”
The new capital will be used to accelerate expansion and enable Tom’s team to develop a range of new products within the next 24 months.
He said: “We have spent the last few years laying the foundations and building a skilled team, now it’s time to roll Gozney out globally to new and proven markets.”
A lot of the future success of the business will ride on the same drive and determination that saw Tom turn his back on troubled teenage years to found a business worth millions.
He admits openly: “I was on a path to nowhere. I had dyslexia and school was really frustrating for me. I knew I was not stupid but sitting in a classroom all day was very difficult for me.
“I was expelled from Ballard School. I basically spent my teens partying too hard and drinking far too much. I really could not see a career in front of me.
“I was spiralling out of control. At the age of 21 I decided to stop drinking. If I had carried on I would never have achieved what I have. I would certainly not be sitting here now CEO of a company.”
At the time he hit on the inspiration for his now global company Tom was drifting from job to job, mainly in the building section.
Then one night he hosted a pizza party. Tom explained: “I had made the pizza dough myself and people chose their toppings, but when the pizzas came out of the oven in the kitchen the base was still soggy.
“I was so disappointed, I started researching how I could improve them and realised the best way was to use an actual stone oven. So I built one in the garden."
“My girlfriend Laura, now my wife, thought I was crazy. I ordered some fire bricks and started digging foundations. It was hard work but I was very determined, something that has helped me drive my business to where it is.”
Tom’s first oven was so successful people started asking him to build them one and a business idea was born.
His parents Colin and Linda gave him a £5,000 loan which he used to construct oven moulds and build a website.”
Tom said: “I will be forever grateful for their support. My parents enabled Gozney to get off the ground.”
Growth in the company has been phenomenal. Around 25,000 Gozney ovens have now been installed in 42 countries ranging from Perth to Peru and even Italy. More than 35 million pizzas are estimated to have been cooked in a Gozney oven since they were invented.
Tom believes there is “so much more” to using a stone oven then just cooking pizza in it – something the Italians have known for years.
He said: “I find it a mesmerising experience, burning wood, poking fire, eating food. It is almost primeval. One of the visions behind the expansion is to inspire people to cook more with fire and stone– you can cook almost anything in a Gozney oven. We would like to see them used as much as a standard barbecue.”
Tom is now looking to expand his team along with the business. His company is currently in talks about relocating their office from Dorset to Lymington.
The new global HQ and European distribution hub will offer new jobs for the Lymington area and beyond. At present Tom’s team numbers 30 but he is hoping to increase that to more than 80 by 2022 as well as building management teams for the US and Australia.
He said: “I love Lymington. The community has always been supportive in the growth of Gozney.”
To find out more visit www.crowdcube.com/companies/gozney/pitches/lO8kwZ.
