Are you planning to start your own pizzeria? If you are, one of the most important things that you should consider is choosing the right commercial pizza oven for your future pizzeria. The logic is when you opt to buy the commercial pizza oven that is being used by large commercial operators, this might not work for you especially since you are just about to start up with your operations.
You should be considerate of several factors like volume, space, fuel source, and pizza type so that you will be able to choose the right commercial pizza oven that will work for you.
Different Types of a Commercial Pizza Oven
Commercial pizza ovens come in four different types, the first type is the Brick Ovens, the second type is the Pizza Deck Ovens, the third type is Conveyor Pizza Ovens, and the fourth type is the Pizza Convection Ovens.
When you are choosing your own commercial pizza oven to use for your business, you should also be mindful of the trends in the pizza world. This is because consumers vary, and so do their preferences. For American pizza consumers, they tend to prefer brick oven pizzas, because this is what they believe to be the best quality among all other pizzas.
The pizza deck ovens also produce good quality pizza, while the conveyor pizza oven and the pizza convection ovens are great if the main priority of your business is efficiency.
But, of course, your considerations when it comes to finding the right commercial pizza oven for your business are not only limited to the factors mentioned above. This is because you also need to consider how much pizza you target to produce, how much space you have available for your business, the kind of pizza that you want to make, and of course, how much capital are you going to put up for your pizzeria.
The Difference Between a Gas and an Electric Commercial Pizza Oven
The gas and electric hookups are available for the conveyor, deck, and convection pizza ovens. However, there are still some slight differences when you are using gas pizza ovens as compared to when you are using electric pizza ovens. If you are a traditional pizza maker and are making high-volume pizzas, the best option is to work with gas ovens. This is because gas ovens produce pizzas that have a crispier crust and it will be able to cook your pizza evenly.
As good as gas ovens may sound, this will still rely on the available utilities that your business establishment may have. This is because even if you want to use gas ovens, but you do not have a hookup for natural gas or liquid propane, then your only choice is to use electric pizza ovens. You need not worry though because electric pizza ovens can still produce good pizzas, and are more portable like when you are operating your pizzeria in a food truck or a concession cart, which usually does not have access to gas.
How Much Pizza Do You Need to Make?
1. Low Production Target
you are only planning to make small quantities of pizza, the commercial pizza convection ovens have relatively low pizza production output in comparison with the other types of pizza ovens. The convection pizza ovens have 2 to 5 racks per chamber and it can fit one or two 16-inch pizzas.
2. Medium Production Target
As compared to the conveyor pizza oven, the pizza deck ovens have a lesser pizza output. Each deck of the commercial pizza deck oven can hold around 4 to 6 pizzas at a time, and the cook times are normally longer for about 6 to 8 minutes.
The brick oven also has similarities with the pizza deck oven in such a way that both have limited cooking space, and both also have slower cooking times than the conveyor pizza ovens. However, the brick oven usually only features one cooking platform, thus the cooking space will be relatively larger than that of the deck pizza ovens.
3. Large Production Target
If your business plans to operate in the large-scale production of pizzas, then you should consider buying the conveyor pizza oven. The conveyor pizza oven features a continuous cooking platform that is going to constantly churn out pizzas as fast as you can make them. So, once you have placed the raw pizzas on the conveyor belt, the oven will do the rest of the work by pulling the pizza through a set of temperatures at a set speed.
How big is Your Available Space?
1. Small-Sized Pizza Place
In comparison to the other three ovens, using a convection oven is not going to take up a lot of space. The usual size of a convection oven ranges from 15 to 60 cubic feet which is fit for restaurants with severely limited space.
2. Medium-Sized Pizza Place
If your restaurant only has a little room to spare or you want to allocate more space to the other pieces of equipment, then a deck oven is going to be a perfect fit. This is actually going to depend on the number of decks but if you will buy a 4-deck oven; this can fill up to 160 cubic feet of space.
3. Large-Sized Pizza Place
When you opt to buy the conveyor pizza oven, this will also require a lot of space because of the extended conveyor belts for the entrance and exit of the oven. Most conveyor pizza ovens can accommodate 2 large pizzas so you will really need a lot of floor space because even a single stack conveyor can take up as much as 150 cubic feet.
How Much Capital Are You Going to Invest?
Of course, for most of us, the first thing that we consider when buying something is the price. Convection ovens usually cost $1,000 to $10,000 which is why this is the most affordable pizza oven. While conveyor ovens cost anywhere from $5,000-$30,000 and this depends on the size, brand, condition, and any special feature that this may have.
Ultimately, this will depend on how big you want your pizzeria is going to be. You can start up small and then get your business to grow over time.