Rudy’s Headingley have been packing up boxes upon boxes of toys following the great success of their ‘Toy Swap For Pizza Joy’ campaign with the Cash For Kids campaign.
People are encouraged to bring a new and unwrapped toy for children aged 5-12 and receive any pizza off their menu in return.
The offer is valid in all Rudy’s venues during their lunch hours of 12-5pm. The popular pizza chain has 3 venues across Leeds. But their Headingley branch has developed a loyal fan base of students living in the area.
The company’s mission is to create and promote true Neapolitan pizza. When asked why the pizza was so popular head chef Nello Talamo said: “Our dough is made fresh every day and every pizza contains ‘the holy trinity’ of ingredients, caputo flour, san marzano tomatoes and fior de latte cheese, all sourced directly from Naples. Each pizza is cooked for 60 seconds in a traditional oven handmade by Stefano Ferrara and is made in the ‘Ruota Di Carro’ style.” Ruota Di Carro translates to ‘wheel of a cart’ and aims for the pizza to overhang its plate by roughly 1cm.
They’ve also launched their own limited edition wrapping paper designed by Nancy Stewart, a Rudy’s employee from their Portland Street branch. Anyone who buys a roll of wrapping paper will be entered into a competition to win a meal for two.
All of the proceeds from these sales will go to a charity chosen by members of each individual branch. Headingley’s choice of charity was Cloth Cat Leeds. The charity offers free music lessons to anyone over the age of 11. They believe that music changes lives and has the power to transform people’s mental health for the better. Alongside the music classes that they run they also teach individuals how to repair and recycle old instruments and musical equipment. They run all these events in the hopes that it’ll reduce isolation among people all ages after covid.
Stephen Mutlow, manager of the Headingley branch, stated: “Both the initiatives have been great successes! Rudy’s as a whole has donated around 7,000 toys to children in need and Headingley have already given away around £6,000 worth of free pizzas.”