The agent with a sideline selling her teenage son's artisan pizzas

A slice of the action

The business took on an even bigger lease of life when Greene and her husband bought Rocco a pizza oven in December 2020 and he began cooking Neapolitan pizza for friends and family.

“I’m half Italian and I had no idea how hard it is to make a perfect pizza, “ Greene acknowledges.

Yet Rocco seemed to take it all in his stride. Before he broke up for the summer holidays this year, the ambitious young chef decided he wanted to start selling his pizza.

Greene’s travel business had come back in full force and she was busy with her own bookings but agreed to help him. They procured the necessary paperwork and then the real work began.

Rocco made around £600 selling pizzas over summer and has continued with weekend takeaways. He does all the cooking himself while Greene boxes them up and manages orders for collection. 

“We are about to do our third weekend takeaway service,” she adds.

New-found fame

On Instagram Rocco is known as @chefrocco10 and has developed quite a following. So much so that when the family goes on holiday, hotels will invite him to take a look around their kitchens. When they visit Greene’s family in Italy he is welcomed behind the scenes in the local pizzeria.

He has worked with Jamie Oliver, the BBC and, as part of a Blue Peter programme, Rocco was invited to create a tiramisu for the Queen’s Jubilee.

During the pandemic, Rocco ran regular Zoom masterclasses for children and also some online cooking lessons for Travel Counsellors.

Greene’s own travel business has benefited from Rocco’s Instagram fame too. She references one follower in particular that has booked some “lovely holidays”.

Yet she is careful not to encroach on Rocco’s success.

“On Instagram people follow someone for the specific content they produce so I don’t want to talk about my business too much, though pizza and holidays do go well together,” she says.

With such passion for his craft and go-getting nature, the question remaining is whether there is likely to be a restaurant anytime soon?

“I don’t want to push Rocco and he is only 14 but I know he is keen,” Greene asserts. “If it’s not pizza I think he will end up doing something involving food in the long term. He is so happy when he pulls a perfect pizza out of the oven.”