Together they are proving (if it needed doing) that the pizza market is eternally elastic - as long as you have the right product, offer and operation.

Breadstall has been serving up its authentic Italian biga dough pizzas on Clapham Junction’s iconic Northcote Road for around two decades. But Waite and Eeles, having agreed it’s perhaps the best pizza they’ve ever tasted, decided (like the entrepreneurs they are) that it had real potential for growth.

The brand has already had an agency-driven image and design makeover, and three months after opening Berwick Street sales are going strong.

So what did I learn when I dropped by this week?

• Pizza is sold by the quarter slice (at £7 a go), half or whole
   
• Berwick Street sales are already running at £34k a week - and growing. And the site’s getting noticed with a steady stream of influencers turning up.
   
• It’s open from 10.30 in the morning to midnight. “There’s a bit of a lull mid evening, then a rush before closing time,” says Eeles.
   
• Pizza is served from a hatch straight onto Berwick Street Market, from an inside counter and in the evening the basement Dough Room does table service. “We’re working out what the balance between table and counter service should be, but we have people coming in grabbing a pizza and a beer or frozen margarita and settling in.”
   
• Service is swift - on average five minutes from ordering at the counter to the customer. Pizzas are twice baked - four minutes initially, then a flash 45 seconds before serving to crisp up. Staff are always monitoring turnover so that dough is constantly brought up from the basement to replenish.
   
• Quality of the dough is crucial and still personally overseen by Seb Vince (pictured with his dough mixers). The Dough Room downstairs may be a 30-cover restaurant by night, but during the day it’s production central.
   
• Philip Eeles is a self-confessed obsessive - about operational efficiency (simplicity is key), data, accurate forecasting, but also staff environment and team cohesion. He’s enthusiastic about the potential of AI for the business, but conscious of hitting the right balance between tech and people.
   
• With a quick glance at his phone he tells me the store is currently selling £600 worth of pizzas an hour.
   
• Metrics are important for measuring success - on average one pizza is being sold per three customers. Breadstall’s measure of productivity is pizzas-per-labour-hour.

Oh, and the pizza itself? I can confirm the spicy pepperoni, candied jalapeños, hot honey and burrata pizza is pretty awesome. Thank you.