THE HOME-MADE TAKEAWAYS...

THE HOME COOKS RUNNING TAKEAWAYS FROM THEIR OWN KITCHENS - SOME ARE SELLING THEIR FOOD ON FACEBOOK MARKETPLACE

WHEN you’re hungry and can’t be bothered cooking, the trusty takeaway menu drawer or a delivery app like Deliveroo or UberEats are the first places most of us would turn.

You probably wouldn’t think to see what your neighbours have got simmering on the stove.

But a growing number of home cooks are running takeaway businesses from their own kitchens - with some even selling their food on Facebook Marketplace.

Among them is Silvana Santangelo, who runs Le Delizie di Nonna Silvana with her husband Piero Papale, cooking and delivering home-made Italian meals from their home in Prestwich.

The couple used to run Altrincham restaurant Scalini, and set up the takeaway service last July with a menu including dishes such as lasagna (£5.50), aubergine parmigiana (£5.50), and meatballs (£5.50).

“I do cook mainly Italian, everything I learned from my mum but also from being in restaurants for many years,” says Silvana, 55, who has lived in the UK for more than 30 years after moving from southern Italy.

“I just love cooking. I cook lasagna, aubergines, meatballs and different dishes all the time, then I do additional dishes that I put on my Facebook page like spaghetti carbonara, bolognese.

“It’s all made in my kitchen, I make all my sauces, all from fresh, all from scratch.”

Scalini found a loyal fanbase in Altrincham and was popular with footballers including Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero and former Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini.

“Some of the footballers used to come twice a day and take takeaways home for their families,” said Silvana.

Building up custom for her homebased business has been a slower process, she admits.

“People aren’t used to it yet,” she says of the business model. “But I’ve got a few customers now and people are coming back.”

The takeaway is licensed and inspected like any other food business, and has a five-star food hygiene rating from Bury Council. With no shop front to display it on, the sticker takes pride of place on their wine glass cabinet.

Silvana also uses her Facebook page to show customers they’re ordering fresher and healthier food than from a typical takeaway.

“Sometimes I have to tell people a little bit about myself, posting pictures of my kitchen so they know they are eating healthier because it’s fresh,” she said.

“They can see it’s cooked in a clean environment and they can see the produce I use. I think people like that.”

While Silvana cooks, Piero, 60, carries out deliveries locally - and sometimes further afield for larger orders.

“I have one lady who keeps ordering meatballs and lasagna, she’s got her grandchildren and she likes to know what she is giving them,” says Silvana.

“Sometimes people will order a tray of lasagna or meatballs to put in the freezer, or sometimes people are having people round and they just ring me. It’s really lovely.”

AT the opposite side of Greater Manchester, Dan Stringer makes and delivers his homecooked meals to customers in Marple.

Dan founded Eat Homemade last October so he could stay at home with his 15-year-old daughter, who has chronic fatigue syndrome.

“I’ve always loved cooking and I’ve been in the trade for years,” said the former Toast Deli owner.

“My eldest daughter is off school long term and I couldn’t hang around at home and do nothing. I didn’t particularly want to claim benefits, not that I have anything against that as a lot of people need

Silvana Santangelo with for City boss Roberto Mancini in her old restaurant them, but I wanted to do something a bit more positive.”

Dan has listed food on Facebook Marketplace in the past, but ‘never sold one thing’, he said. Instead he uses social media to promote sales through his website.

Weekdays are spent cooking meals in his home kitchen, where he boxes them up and freezes them before delivering to customers on Fridays.

Customers can choose from dishes including mushroom and stilton soup (£3.50 per portion), butternut squash and sage risotto (£5.25), shepherd’s pie (£5.95) braised beef in red wine (£6.50).

“It’s just healthy, homemade grub,” said Dan. “It’s exactly the same food I cook for my family.”

While he initially imagined the biggest demand would come from older people, Dan says most of his customer base have been working families so far - fulfilling a need he knew was there, as a parent.

“It means they have homemade food there in the freezer when they get in at night and they haven’t got time to cook,” he said.

“What I’d noticed was a lot of my mates who were both parents were getting home late from work and then there’s a scramble to get something ready for the kids.

“Invariably they’d end up eating something overly processed and quick, but not very wholesome. That’s fine, we all do that - I love a quick chicken kiev and chips - but when it’s every day you know it’s not right.

“I thought there must be a better way of doing this.”

Dan shops locally for ingredients at independent retailers including Littlewoods Butchers and Marple Fish.

“While I’m selling online, it’s supporting the high street,” he said.

“So many people have said how they really appreciate that. It would be so much easier to go to Asda or a wholesaler and buy produce much cheaper but Marple is a reasonably affluent area and people around here aren’t just about getting the cheapest they can, they want something that’s really good quality as well.”

Like Silvana, Dan has registered his kitchen with the council, and he holds a food hygiene certificate. His first inspection took place this week and he is awaiting the results.

“It’s a really straightforward process, there’s just a form you fill out on the council website and they send someone out to inspect your kitchen in the exact same way you inspect a restaurant or a takeaway,” he said.

It’s proved so popular he’s already expanding the business. His first