Cox Green twins scoop national award at ‘the Grammys for entrepreneurship’

The founders of a growing pizza brand from Cox Green have been honoured at national awards dubbed ‘the Grammys for entrepreneurship’.

Earlier this year, non-identical twins Luke and Owen Buckmaster secured the backing of Peter Jones on BBC One’s Dragons’ Den for their four-year-old company Doughboys Pizza.

Now, the 25-year-old brothers have been named winners of Young Entrepreneur of the Year at the prestigious Great British Entrepreneur Awards 2025 (GBEA).

The pair were honoured for transforming a small startup into a fast-growing multi-channel business at a glittering ceremony in JW Marriott Grosvenor House on Monday, November 17.

“We did not expect to win it at all, so we were completely shocked to be chosen," Luke told the Advertiser.

“It was great to get the recognition, especially when we know how many other amazing businesses and entrepreneurs had been shortlisted.

“We've always been inspired by nominees and winners in the past, and I think it goes to show that – it's cliché – but hard work and dedication really can get you anywhere.

“We don't have any high level of education or anything, we just went to secondary school in Cox Green.

“We didn't study A-levels, we got apprenticeships and wanted to get into the workplace.

“It goes to show that if you put your mind to it, you can really do whatever you want.”

After initially abandoning the business idea due to the pandemic, the duo began trading in 2021, supplying handmade frozen Italian pizzas to hospitality businesses.

The Cox Green School alumni started their company from a garage at their mother’s home in Cox Green Road with £10,000 of their own savings from working in hospitality and supermarkets.

They saw a friend struggle to recruit chefs and offer a reasonable standard food menu at their pub, and spotted a gap in the market for premium, ready-made frozen pizzas in the UK.

Doughboys Pizza supplied pubs and restaurants with pizzas and bases – all handmade in Italy – and expanded to its first office on Grove Business Park in White Waltham, and is now based in Bracknell.

“We had really low expectations when we started the company,” said Luke.

“We were doing it to help a friend out, and we got so much interest and engagement that we just kept building on, and to think we’d be in this position a few years later is just unimaginable.”

The brothers serve prominent clients, including football stadiums, hotel chains and the NHS, and secured a partnership with online grocery delivery service Ocado in 2023.

The annual turnover of the growing pizza empire climbed to a projected £2.75 million this year.

The company impressed Marlow-based Dragon Peter Jones during their TV appearance in January, who said he wanted to work with the brothers due to their local connection.

This resulted in a £90,000 investment for a 10 per cent stake from the business guru, which they initially accepted on-air but ultimately opted not to proceed with the deal off-air due to contractual complexities.

Luke said they hope to ‘revisit the conversation in the near future’.

“At the time, it was really daunting, but the reaction we've had afterwards has been amazing. We get so much more recognition as a company,” he added.

"Seeing that we have had multiple offers in the Den gives us a bit more credibility as a company, and winning this latest award only adds to it. We hope to keep building on it.”

The GBEA is celebrating its 13th year of recognising entrepreneurial success stories, with Luke and Owen having reached the finals in the family business category in 2021.

The twin entrepreneurs are now in talks with investment companies to raise a seven-figure investment round to expand the team, marketing activities and product development.

“To date, we've been entirely self-funded as a company,” said Luke.

“We’ve had a huge amount of success, but we recognise that you've got to keep evolving as a company to win customers over and to keep customers on side.

“Although it can sometimes be an advantage, a lot of the time our age goes against us.

“I think a lot of the time people don't think we have the experience or the knowledge, so it does make it challenging being so young and running a business.

“Having the award adds to our credibility. Running a business at whatever age is tough, but it's even tougher when you are younger, and people don't necessarily take you seriously.

“This award motivates us even more as we move into our next phase of growth.”