It has earned a growing reputation in recent years after joining the food line-up at the popular city venue
Knead Pizza needs no introduction to regular visitors to Belfast’s Common Market. The local pizzeria has become a firm staple at the iconic city food spot.
Founded by Newtownabbey man Aidan Moss, Knead has earned a growing reputation in recent years after joining the food line-up at the popular Cathedral Quarter venue.
His latest move has been him partner with food services giant SSP Group as part of the newly refurbished dining area at Belfast International Airport.
For Aidan, 38, it’s been a whirlwind journey from working in banking to making pizzas in a garage and now doing it for a living within Belfast’s thriving food scene and all in the space of a couple of years.
Aidan told Belfast Live: “It all started during COVID making pizzas in the garden, me and my friend, Mark. My wife Aisling had bought me a new pizza oven for my 30th birthday.
“It turned into a bit of a competition between the two of us. me and Mark, to see who was better at it and everybody would have said that we’re both good and that we should team up.
“As a result, Belfast Pizza Lads was born in 2022 – just two lads from Belfast doing pizza our way. We started in his garage, taking pre-orders on Instagram and we started to get busier and busier selling.
“Aisling, who is a teacher got us to do an event at her school catering for the staff. One of the staff member’s husbands owned a pizzeria in our local pub, The Crown and Shamrock Inn in Newtownabbey. I reached out to the pub owner and he agreed to take us on and we’ve been there for the last four years.”
Back in 2024, Aidan’s banking job was being made redundant and moved to Edinburgh so it was decision time for Aisling and himself: “We’d just had our first kid so I couldn’t really travel.
“My wife talked me into giving Knead to go. I came from a banking background, not a food background so I had no real network in the city centre.
“I reached out to one of my friends who is a director of the Waterfront Hall and he introduced me to Lawrence Bannon, who owns Common Market. Just purely by chance there was a vendor leaving, and we were able to get in.
“Our pizza is inspired by our travels and experiences, with a distinctive Belfast twist. We’re not Neapolitan, we’re not New York – we sit somewhere in the middle so I call it like a Belfast pizza experience. It’s as local an experience as I can make it.”
Knead Pizza is also now being enjoyed by passengers at Belfast International Airport. Flax & Soda is one of the airport’s newest food and drink venues and offers an approachable, family-friendly atmosphere.
Celebrating the best of Northern Ireland, Flax & Soda is a 280-cover space offering a flexible, all-day dining experience tailored to a wide range of passenger needs.
The venue has also teamed up with Knead to add their pizzas to the menu for passengers to get when they’re passing through.
“As a local business, we are incredibly excited for the opportunity to partner with SSP to bring our product to Belfast International Airport, and we are proud to share it with visitors from around the world.
“It’s been a mad journey from working in a bank in 2024 to making pizzas in an airport in 2026,” Aidan laughs.
Video: Justin Kernoghan
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