ONE interesting outcome of the pandemic has been the creative ways many enterprising businesses have adapted to survive.

Leo Ferenc has been a photographer all his life, having worked on cruise ships for 17 years and at weddings and corporate events, often using his collection of nine classic London taxis as decorative photo booths.

But the 55-year-old said he quickly realised there would not be any events or weddings for a long time when coronavirus arrived last year.

He made the decision to transform one of his cabs into a pop-up pizza vehicle, using the windows of the taxi to install the gas ovens.

The Argus:

Leo, who lives near Battle, said: “I was looking around the world at what was happening last March and I knew events were going to be off for a while.

“I’ve got these quirky old photo booths and so I decided to rip out the photography equipment and replace it with three small pizza ovens to start with.

“Last summer we had a couple of pubs who didn’t want to open up their kitchens so they asked if we could come along and set up in the back garden.

“We basically became like a restaurant – and it’s been great.”

Leo’s pizza cab, which he named Leonati, offers freshly cooked pizzas using locally sourced ingredients and homemade dough, cooked very quickly on a high heat, in the Neapolitan style.

He was invited to set up outside the Yew Tree Inn in Chalvington last summer, which is linked to a camp site, and business boomed.

Leo said: “We cook the pizzas for 90 seconds at 430 degrees C.

The Argus:

“It’s a very simple style of pizza in the Naples style, with not too many toppings. The crust just puffs up.

“It’s taken us a little bit by surprise just how popular it’s been.”

More recently Leo decided to convert another vehicle, a red taxi which previously featured in an advert for girl band Little Mix’s perfume, into a Leonati coffee cab with an Italian coffee machine and has been providing refreshments to walkers in Sussex during lockdown.

He said: “We use local coffee roasters including Bean Smitten in Robertsbridge and Redroaster in Brighton.

“The coffee taxi has only been going for a month but people always ask us when we’re coming back and they love taking a picture by the cab.

“We’ve been using private land such as pub car parks, with permission, but are looking for some more permanent locations and need to secure permission from councils.

The Argus:

“There’s definitely a huge demand for al fresco dining this summer, I just hope town councils will embrace the idea.”

Despite missing the buzz of wedding celebrations and other events, Leo has enjoyed his new culinary job.

He said: “It’s very satisfying to provide great food and great coffee for people and I like the idea of changing direction every few years. I think street food is going to grow and be a really big thing, going forward.

“With staycations this year I expect we will have a lot of people coming down to Sussex and I think we’ll see a real boom for hospitality.

“Funnily enough we’ve actually had some wedding bookings for the pizza cab now as well as the photo booths.

“It’s not definite they will go ahead of course – but we live in hope.”

To find out more about Leonati pizza and the red coffee cab, visit www.pizzaleonati.com or follow him on Instagram @pizzaleonati and @coffee_leonati.