A PORTABLE oven whose inventor is seeking to revolutionise outdoor eating is now going into mass production after smashing its target via online crowd-funding.

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Tom Gozney devised Roccbox, which is billed as the world’s first portable and lightweight stone bake oven.

He raised funding for the launch via the online platform Indiegogo – and ended up raising a million US dollars in a month.

“We launched with a target of raising 100,000 dollars in 30 days. We raised 100,000 dollars from midnight to 8am,” he said.

“We absolutely destroyed our target and raised about half a million in the first week.

“We’re now in mass production. We’re in the process of producing the first 4,000 units.

“We’ve got something like just under 3,000 sold. With some of the profit, we’re ordering to get some stock in the warehouse.”

Roccbox is fuelled by wood or gas and reaches 500 degrees Celsius in 15 minutes.

It can cook a pizza in 90 seconds and can be used to bake bread, caramelise vegetables, roast meat or cook fish.

It grew out of Mr Gozney’s track record with Gozney Professional Ovens, which has been supplying the hospitality industry since 2010, and whose clients incllude River Cottage, Marriott and Jean-Christophe Novelli.

Mr Gozney has previously told of his “colourful” youth, which saw him expelled from a series of schools.

He set up his own business, the Stone Bake Oven Company, with a £5,000 loan after turning his life around and stopping drinking. He now runs the Gozney Group at Christchurch Business Park.

The advance customers for Roccbox have included Richard Branson.

Mr Gozney expects business to expand rapidly once the early ovens garner recommendations and online reviews. The company is already taking on extra staff and expects to hire more.

“The early adopters are the people we’ve sold to. Then we’ll get the more risk-averse buyers that will be sitting there waiting for it to hit the market,” he said.

Around 2,000 ovens have been sold to Australia and many others to North America.

“I’m not surprised. We’re probably in the hardest market in the present climate,” said Mr Gozney.

“It’s a product that encourages people to get outside so the North American and Australian markets are really good for us.”