Erik Muller is not one to give up when it comes to starting businesses.

Mr Muller, 41, has run no fewer than six companies in the past, but they have all proved unsuccessful.

But now he has bounced back with his latest idea – Rico’s Pizza Shack – which he is convinced will prove to be an enterprise that will take off.

He said: “Since I was 18 I have been setting up companies that for one reason or another haven’t worked.”

Last year, however, while he was on holiday in France with wife Helen, he saw vans equipped with wood burning stoves serving pizzas and decided the service would work well in the UK.

He came home and bought a £1,200 trailer from eBay and fitted it with a wood burning stove. By September he was trading and selling pizzas from the van in villages including Eynsham and Middle Barton.

He combined running his business with working as a general manager of the Swan Inn at Pangbourne, near Reading, before taking the plunge full time in March this year.

This summer he has expanded and bought two more vans which have been fully equipped. He is looking to start setting up a franchise operation after investor Simon Darvall bought a 25 per cent stake in the business.

Now Rico’s Pizza Shacks can be seen in more rural locations including Deddington, Kirtlington and Long Hanborough, while Mr Muller has also applied for a site in Oxford city centre.

He added: “Pizzas appeal to everyone and no one is doing them like this, so we are going from strength to strength.”

Such has been his success that Rico’s Pizza Shack is a finalist in the Best Takeaway category of the BBC Food and Farming Awards and he is on target for a £100,000 turnover in the first year.

Mr Muller has also entered the Local Business Accelerators competition being run by Newsquest Oxfordshire, publisher of the Oxford Mail.

He is hoping he will be one of three start-up businesses selected to win three months’ free advertising as well as mentoring from top Oxfordshire business experts.

“The free advertising would give me publicity and help me recruit more people locally to help expand the business,” he said.

“The mentoring would also be useful as I want to establish my franchise operation.”

The Business Accelerators competition, part of a £15m campaign by the Newspaper Society to boost awareness of the power of local media, is backed by Dragons’ Den star Deborah Meaden and Prime Minister and Witney MP David Cameron.