Emergency Pizza

Two weeks ago the owner of our favourite eating place told us he wanted to go back to Italy. He was looking for someone to take over his Pizzeria. To be honest, it did not take us long to decide. The first restaurant in town with excellent foreign food was about to disappearfrom Fort Portal! This is really an emergency. Our only consideration was if we would manage time wise. Pierluigi convinced us that the place hardly needs any time to run it.

The pizzeria is a small place with 16 tables and a small bar. The location is right in the main street in an old building . The building is known for the oldest bar in Fort Port The Glue Pot (since 1960). The interior of the place could definitely improve, but the pizza’s are great. Pierluigi build an wood oven, specific for pizza. The people who come there are wasungu (whites), mohindi (Indian) and Ugandan. The Ugandans come for the meat with chips, the bar and football. The wasungu have their special night Wednesday and especially eat pizza and spaghetti. The mohindi prefer quite evenings so they get quick service and they come for pizza, chips masala, fruit juices and Indian tea. We really have to learn a new type of business. The pizzeria has 6 staff members: 3 in the kitchen, 2 in the restaurant, 1 in the bar. The new name will be Glue Pot Bar and Pizzeria. The pizzeria is of the few places that does take away and they even deliver by motorcycle!

If you want to see the flashy website of the pizzeria you can look at pierpizzeria.com
Also important is that the pizzeria is using 40 kilo of mozzarella per week. We have taken over possibly the biggest client of our cheese factory.

The restaurant to be

Our major project: the renovation of the house we bought has finally started. The house is on our names. The municipal county has approved our plans. We are adding another floor to the building and the contractor started November. The first two months only seem to destroy the house. The roof was taken off. Columns need to be cut in the existing house, to hold the first floor also during earthquakes. Finally at the beginning of this year we saw results! The first floor received it’s floor and walls. The quality of the work is better than we expected and so far the delay is only 1,5 week in 3 months time! We expect the roof to be on at the end of February. In the mean time we are looking at the next phase, getting the doors and windows, getting plumbing and electricity in and setting up fences around the plot (instead of old iron sheets).

Most outside doors and window frames in Uganda are made out of iron. Our house will have wooden doors and window frames. The most used and available wood is mahogany. So we placed an order with a local carpenter for 28 doors and 27 windows. The owner personally went to Congo to select the trees for our house. The trees have to cross the Blue Mountains –which go up to 2000 meter high - until they get at the Semliki river, which is used to transport them to Uganda. Arriving in Fort Portal the wood first has to dry. Hopefully we will have the doors and windows in April.

We have not even discussed getting tiles, toilets, shower head.... We are thinking about the furniture and decorations and staff but that is too early.