Hello, we’re Seb and Kara-Jessica, a couple who founded Tanio Pizza. After I, Seb, lost my job during covid late 2020, we started to make pizza for friends and family in the communal garden of our flat. After a few months testing, and with the help of my mum Claire, Tanio made our street food debut in July 2021. We spent the next three years doing local markets, birthday parties, weddings and more. Over that time along with the good, came a wave of challenges, for example, unexpected bad weather could mean we’d only make a couple of sales, not to mention the physical toll of setting up the gazebo in all manner of conditions. We loved doing markets but it was always our aim to have a place where we could call home and build a community.
In September 2024 we finally took the plunge and moved into a permanent concession inside Catford Mews cinema, something that we had dreamt of for so long, and it meant even more to us as we both grew up in Lewisham. We sold all of our outdoor equipment, gave up our market spots to other pizza traders we recommended and put in almost all our savings into financing the move. Kara-Jessica quit her full-time job to help make it a reality. We were so happy to have our own spot, particularly within a space that’s so treasured by the local community. Catford Mews was the perfect space to build our vision to help create events, stock products from other local businesses and collaborate with local creatives. We wanted Tanio to be more than just a pizzeria and help the Mews to be more than just a cinema.
We had been there for less than two months when our world came crashing down overnight. On the 29th October the Catford Regeneration Partnership Ltd repossessed the building from Really Local Group (our landlords). The locks were changed by bailiffs, so with no access to our equipment, we were left unable to trade and make any income. Having worked so hard and sacrificed so much to get to this point, we’re now facing the very real possibility that Tanio will no longer exist. The moment the locks went on the door, our business, Fuse (another food trader), Boxing Cat and all the staff became collateral damage.
The local community has been incredible since this news came to light, and we’re truly thankful for the outpouring of support from customers, as well as people who we’ve never met.
Lewisham Council are actively looking for a new operator for the site so that Catford Mews can open again. Unfortunately we don’t have a timeframe for now or any guarantees that we’ll be a trader in the premises, but for obvious reasons we’re hoping it will be sooner rather than later and we’ll be able to return.
With all that being said, we’re turning to the amazing local community for support during this period where our ability to trade has been taken from us, through no fault of our own. Lewisham Council have given us a grant, which we’re very grateful for but unfortunately it’s not enough to cover our bills. They’ve also given us a grant to help us repurchase outdoor equipment, but as we’ve given up all our regular spots that we spent 3 years building, it'll take time to find pitches again.
We’ve put together a range of rewards to choose from, we’d be eternally grateful for any contribution. The rewards will be redeemable if we reach our goal, and when we are able to trade again. Think of it as a pre-order for when we are able to do what we love and re-open!
Some Rewards Available
We obviously hope that you’ll be able to redeem the rewards in our unit in Catford Mews, but if for whatever reason we are unable to return, we will be in touch to confirm where you can redeem them.
Thank you so much for your support, it means the world to us.
Kara-Jessica & Seb x
If you'd like to find out more about us and see where our journey began you can follow us on Instagram @tanio.pizza
If you'd like to read into why we chose to make pizza, head to the FAQs on our website.