Coronavirus: Malaysian family fires up backyard pizza oven to beat pandemic money woes

A family in Jemapoh has managed to turn a bumper profit during the downturn by opening up an eatery serving wood-fired pizzas from their home

The business, which offers pies with herbs and spices, has now hired about 20 people from the village to make up to 800 pizzas daily

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A worker preparing pizza ingredients at the Jemapoh pizzeria in Malaysia’s Negeri Sembilan state. Photo: AFP

Published: 6:40pm, 27 Nov 2020Updated: 8:22pm, 27 Nov 2020

A Malaysian family have cooked up a tasty solution to their economic woes during the pandemic by opening a backyard pizzeria that has proved a hit in their sleepy village.

Millions of people around the world lost their jobs this year as governments introduced economically damaging lockdowns to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

But one family in a Malaysian village managed to turn a bumper profit during the downturn by opening up an eatery serving wood-fired pizzas from their home.

Based in Jemapoh, 120km south of the capital Kuala Lumpur, the business offers pizzas with herbs and spices, and cut pineapples mixed with meat or tuna, along with a heavy layer of mozzarella and cheddar cheese.

Customers eating pizzas at the Jemapoh restaurant in Malaysia. Photo: AFP

“We did this to get some pocket money,” said Raudhah Hassan, 35, the eldest of several siblings and mastermind behind the business.