Doughmance Pizza & Bar Bus is our little love letter to food, culture and the city that somehow became home.
We’re Chris and Arunima. We met at university here in Lancaster and, like a lot of people who come here “just for uni”, never really left. Lancaster became the place where we built our life, our relationship, our businesses and our sense of home.
Chris runs Aquila Pizzeria on Penny Street, so pizza has been part of our world for a while now. I’m originally from India and work full-time in marketing, so Doughmance has naturally become a bit of both of us – Italian-style pizza, Indian flavours, local ingredients, a lot of heart – and probably a little overthinking behind every tiny detail.
The name came from that same place: a bit of dough, a bit of romance, and a bit of bromance.
With the food, we wanted to bring different pieces of home together. Our flour, tomatoes and cheese come from Italy for a proper Neapolitan-style base. Our masalas and spices come from India, because that’s where my idea of comfort food lives. And our veg, meat, herbs and fresh produce are sourced locally wherever possible, because we care about using ingredients that feel close to where we are now, too – fresh, seasonal, and full of flavour.
We’re still experimenting, testing and finding our flavour, but at our first market – the FoodFutures Midsummer Market on 12 June in Lancaster Market Square – we’ll be serving things like paneer tikka pizza with a drizzle of mint chutney, alongside our signature cocktail/mocktail, Gulaabo. Not something you see on many menus around here.
We’ve already done weddings and private events, but this is our first market as Doughmance – and honestly, that feels like a big little moment. There’s something special about being out in the city, serving people face-to-face, and letting Doughmance become part of Lancaster in real life.
We’re starting small, but we’re dreaming big, and we’d love to grow Doughmance with the people of Lancaster.
We’d love for you to come along to the Midsummer Market, say hi, grab a pizza and a drink, and be part of the beginning of our journey.
