After a stressful day in March 2020 Rachael Willoughby and Elliott Richmond lay in bed and dreamed up a new business.
Rachael, now 59 said: "Elliott was brought up in Malta which was a boat ride away from Italy and has always loved pizza made the Italian way.
"In all the years we have been together he became famous with friends and family for his tasty homemade pizza. We would always cook off loads of fresh dough for any gatherings and parties, everyone loved them."
Before 2020 Rachael and Elliott had been running a successful web development company for over 20 years. They lived and worked together at home in Bishops Cleeve with their two children , Alfie, now 21 and Charlie, 18.
But when Covid struck and businesses tightened their belts they lost £15,000 of contracts.
Rachael said: "We were stressed and couldn't sleep. As a limited company there was no help available to us. So we were chatting in bed and Elliott said 'Perhaps now is the time to take my pizzas out on the road'.
"Over the years, many friends had commented saying Elliott should sell his pizzas so we decided to give it a go for three months to help us through that tricky time."
With their background in IT the couple quickly got to work and built their website, ordering and delivery system and had all the food hygiene and business logistics in place within three weeks.
Rachael said: "We had no choice. It was a challenge but really exciting.
"Our boys who were 13 and 16 at the time pitched in to help us make it work. Charlie, our youngest, helped make the dough and put together the boxes and Alfie was our bike delivery boy.
"And here we are five years later, offering pizzas three nights a week and we make on average £6,000 profit each month. Our side hustle has made us net takings of £201,600."
Now the couple are sharing everything they have built and learnt from CasaGee's in a course that shares the blueprints of their successful business.
Rachael said: "We want others to reap the rewards of making dough from home selling pizzas to their local community."
CasaGees (or home of the gingers, a fun play on words) are offering to license their methods to people from all over the UK who have an entrepreneurial spirit and a passion for cooking.
Rachael said: "We've got everything you need to start and earn a living quickly. You'll be making authentic Italian pizzas at home to serve your local area.
"We have the method covered in the course, a plug in and play website with delivery and ordering system , marketing materials, business and legal documents and even customer service training."
At first Rachael and Elliott built a menu with a limited selection of six pizza choices.
They were able to make 36 pizzas a night and regularly sold out.
Now they have 18 pizzas on offer as well as various sides including coleslaw, dough bites, dips, and desserts.
They also have a team of five members of part time staff to cope with the demand.
Rachael said: "Over the years we have listened to our customers and have refined our recipes and methods to provide the best pizza service possible from a domestic kitchen.
“We've increased both the quantity and choices on our menu and we’ve also built relationships with a couple of local businesses.
"Our pizzas are high end, traditional Neapolitan style with no pineapple: ever."
Looking to the future CasaGees has big ambitions to teach other couples to create a similar business and create a network of independent home pizzerias that can overtake Domino's as the family favourite on a Friday night.
Rachael added: "We love serving our local community with delicious pizza and we know that people really do like to support local rather than big impersonal chains.
"We're really excited to take this business to the next level, and to help other people enjoy making dough from making dough! It's safe to say that this wasn't on our radar five years ago but we are very proud of how the business has grown out of what was a pretty stressful time."