Growth Stories
Growth Stories
Gozney, founded in 2010 by talented entrepreneur and designer Tom Gozney, creates premium pizza ovens, accessories and consumables which combine an obsession with live-fire cooking, design, and quality, in order to “change the way the world cooks outdoors”. In Tom’s own words, at 21 years of age he was a disillusioned kid. He had been kicked out of school and recently left rehab. Feeling lost, he decided to build a pizza oven in his garden. He was instantly hooked – it was something he could get lost in, better himself at, and connect with others through. This moment changed, and probably saved, his life.
Tom started the business by selling commercial pizza ovens to restaurants, and in a short space of time grew to be a market leader in UK commercial pizza ovens supplying the likes of Franco Manca, and Pizza Pilgrims. Following on from the success of the commercial oven business, Tom and the team wanted to enhance the at-home outdoor cooking experience and enable anyone to create restaurant quality pizza, so in 2016 launched their category defining portable pizza oven Roccbox. It changed the game and simultaneously sparked the street pizza scene serving as the fire beneath the bellies of thousands of pizza makers serving slices outside of a traditional bricks and mortar restaurant.
Gozney’s multi-award-winning range of pioneering pizza ovens, commercial credibility, leading content and dynamic brand activations, has created a cult-like following of passionate brand and product enthusiasts, with over 600k Instagram followers. The business has also been strategically building its sales channels, expanding into wholesale predominantly within specialist retailers in the US and UK, including into US giants ACE Hardware and Home Depot. Over the last year the brand has seen this strategy go from strength to strength with their US wholesale business now surpassing digital sales for the first time in 2023. The business has achieved exceptional growth, both domestically and overseas, with a team of over 100 people in offices in the UK, US, and China.
Gozney’s latest release, the eagerly anticipated Arc, sold over 10,000 units upon launch driving the biggest month the brand has seen to date. The launch builds on the release of their pinnacle pizza oven, Dome, back in 2021 which revolutionised the outdoor oven category looking like nothing else on the market, offering limitless versatility and providing Gozney’s unparalleled pro-grade performance. Dome sold out within hours of being released on pre-sale and generated over $6.5m sales catapulting the brand into a new phase of growth and unlocking further opportunities.
Growth Partner has partnered with Gozney to support Tom and the rest of the team to achieve their ambitious plans to become the world’s leading pizza oven brand, and a multi-billion-dollar business.
Why we love Gozney
People are key to the success of any business, and Tom has done a phenomenal job of crafting a team of highly experienced and passionate operators, including former board member and recently appointed CEO Denny Bruce, previously Global Brand President of leading workwear brand Dickies, enabling Tom to transition to the role of Executive Chairman where he is focusing on strategic initiatives to continue Gozney’s exceptional growth.
Alongside the exceptional team, we love Gozney’s cult-like following of passionate brand and product enthusiasts which has been built through patient, and authentic brand-building, such as collaborating with innovative chefs and leaders in the food community.
Looking ahead…
Gozney has a raft of exciting product launches in the pipeline, including ovens, equipment and consumables, which will continue to set the standard for performance and design, as Gozney aims to become the global market leader in outdoor cooking. The team is also exploring further expansion of sales channels internationally to further drive brand awareness and continue its mission to “change the way the world cooks outdoors”.