Preston's first ever takeaway on being a proper Italian family business and helping feed children

“The discussion was never whether we should help,” says Nina di Niro. “It was just how we were going to organise everything.”

Toni’s has been in the Di Niro family for three generations, serving the people of Plungington and far further afield with classic, traditional, hand-kneaded pizzas since 1983 to all-but universal acclaim.

“We were the first takeaway in Preston and it’s always been a real, 100% Italian family affair,” explains Nina, 23, from Preston. “The pizzeria was founded by my great-uncle Antonio, then my granddad bought it from him before unfortunately passing away four or five years ago. My dad, who’s worked here all his life, now owns it.

“Italians are very passionate about food and my great-uncle saw a gap in the market and it’s worked ever since, really,” adds Nina, who worked at the restaurant whilst at university and still does marketing for Toni’s. “Food has always been my dad’s passion, too; he was brought up around food and went to culinary school.

“On Christmas Day, we’ve always had a nine-course meal, so food is certainly something we love in our household.”

In March, as the coronavirus numbers rose, Nina’s father Giovanni decided to close Toni’s for three weeks as a precautionary measure.

The esteem in which the restaurant is held by the local community was aptly reflected by the fact that their reopening announcement was met by one comment on social media which simply read ‘Thank the lord and Toni’s crew, Friday pizza night can get back on track. Just told my boy, he’s jumping around the house’.

“We’ve had people travelling down from the Lake District and people taking pizza down to London with them, so we’re always been really lucky to have such good customers,” says Nina, with her brother Luca, aunt, and grandmother all currently working at Toni’s. “The first day we opened after closing over lockdown we were absolutely bombarded with orders, which is really nice because it’s our family business.

“Working at the restaurant is great; at times, my dad would be at the oven, my brother would be making bases, and I’d be doing toppings,” Nina adds. “For us, that’s normal, but when you think about it you realise how unique it is.

“The first lockdown didn’t really affect us, but Help Out to Eat Out did because people were going out more, which made for a bit of a worrying time,” says Nina. “Everything’s started to pick up again and we feel so lucky to be one of those businesses which can remain open in this new lockdown.”

The love and support they have felt from their regulars is another thing which spurred Toni’s on to get involved in Rashford’s #EndChildFoodPoverty campaign to ensure that children on free school meals could access food whilst not in school. As Nina says, they ‘wanted to give something back’ to those who had given so much to them.

“My granddad was always the most generous person ever, giving sweets to any kids who came into the restaurant,” says Nina. “Helping out just made sense because we’re in a position where we can give food to people and we’ve been fortunate that we’ve never struggled

“My grandmother is one of eight and grew up in a tiny village in the mountains in Italy with nothing before moving to England in search of a better life, so we were shocked by the government’s decision,” she adds. “Helping out was a no-brainer and it was brilliant to be involved at a time when everyone has to chip in.

“We didn’t do it for publicity; we were in a position to help, so we did.”