16.10.2026 18:15
After running restaurants in Sweden for about 40 years, Mustafa and Döndü Aydın, a couple who retired and returned to their village in Çorum, turned pizza making, which they started as a hobby, into a growing business. The pizzas they baked in an oven they set up in their garden soon became famous, and customers began coming from all over Turkey. With the success of the village pizzeria, the couple opened branches in Istanbul and Antalya and are now preparing to open in Mersin.
Mustafa Aydın, 78, who went to Sweden in the early 1970s to work, ran a restaurant business there with his 72-year-old wife Döndü Aydın for about 40 years. The couple, who did not sever their ties with Turkey during the time they lived abroad and visited their homeland every year, settled in Çetmi village of Kargı district of Çorum, their hometown, from Sweden in 2017 after retiring.
HE HAD IT BUILT AS A HOBBY, TURNED IT INTO A BUSINESS
Mustafa Aydın, who had an oven built in the garden of his house here as a hobby, decided to open a pizzeria with his wife after his guests liked the pizzas he baked in the oven. The Aydın couple, whose customer base expanded after the pizzeria they opened in their village became popular on social media, have been hosting customers from Çorum and its surroundings as well as different provinces for 9 years.
The Aydın couple, who open the pizzeria in their village every May, usually close it in October and do not operate during the winter. Mustafa Aydın, who stated that he loves his country very much, said that this is why he returned to Turkey after retiring.
"WE OPENED IT HALF-JOKINGLY, IT WAS VERY WELL LIKED"
Noting that the pizza oven he had made as a hobby turned into a new workplace, Aydın said, "I had a small oven here, and we used to make pizza for those who came. My nephew said, 'Why don't we make a restaurant here?' Since it was my own craft, I got motivated too. We opened it half-jokingly. It grew a lot, it was very well liked. They come from all over Turkey. There are people coming from Ankara, they come from Samsun, Kastamonu."
HE BRINGS THE SPICES FROM SWEDEN
Expressing that the pizzas he makes attract attention because they are different, Aydın said, "I make the pizza from whole wheat flour. I bring its spices from Sweden. I also get my sauce from a place. Quality has been on my mind since I was born. I use everything of high quality here."
A NEW BRANCH IS ON THE WAY
Aydın, who recounted that there were days during the summer when 300 people came, noted that they are pleased with the interest. Aydın stated that under the name of the pizzeria in his village, he opened 2 branches in Istanbul and 1 in Antalya, and that they are about to open a branch in Mersin as well.
"I FOUND MYSELF IN THE DOUGH"
Döndü Aydın, on the other hand, said that they initially worked in a textile factory, later entered the restaurant sector, and have shouldered life together for 54 years.
Recounting that after working in Sweden for a long time she retired and dreamed of not working, but continued to work at the pizzeria they opened in the village, Aydın said, "We retired in Sweden. He said, 'We will go to Turkey and live comfortably,' but I found myself in the dough again. As long as there is health, working is a good thing. I have been working since I was 17."
Emphasizing that she loves being in the village, Aydın used the following expressions: "We also have a place in Antalya, but I love this place more. We chat with our customers, we have many who love us. On weekends there is no place to sit. It is going well, as long as God grants health."