AN entrepreneur selling Italian street food is set to expand her business following a successful first year of trading.

Victoria Ponsford, 25, took the uncertain step of launching MYO Pizza last year, a stepping stone on her dream to owning her own restaurant.

Working out of a converted 1970s Renault Estafette, the idea has been a hit on the street and Victoria is now looking to launch a second van to sell coffees and desserts to keep pace with demand.

She said: “The success of the van has inspired me to carry on with the MYO concept and expand into MYO dolce. Dolce in Italian is desserts. I’ve always wanted to do Gelato and pizza, so this next one will be a pop-up coffee and Gelato van.

“A lot of people come up, thinking because it is an Italian it sells good coffee, but with the space and electricity in the van I have always had to focus one thing at a time.”

The new pastel yellow van is currently set to be converted and Victoria hopes it will be ready in time for the next year’s season of events.

It will be available for private events such as weddings, birthdays or christenings as well as being on the road for bigger shows.

In order to cope with the demand Victoria is now looking for more staff for the second van.

“I need to find somebody who can help me,” she said. “It is hard to trust somebody with your business, you hear these nightmare stories all of the time.

“So I am looking for somebody to work for me full-time and would like to get behind the wheel of a left-handed Renault.”

The next phase of business could be a cocktail van and Victoria says she is in the process of applying for an alcohol licence.

“Then we would have three, so we could evaluate which one is doing the best and we expand from there,” she said.

“Owning my own restaurant is still the dream, as it has been since I was 11-years-old, but I never expected the MYO concept to grow like it has.”

n Anybody interested in working for MYO they should email victoria@myopizza.co.uk.