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Does anyone have special seasonal menu items? I’ve been thinking about having some special pizzas and salads that utilize fresh ingredients based on the season. I know that plain cheese and pepperoni pay the bills but mixing things up sometimes is fun for us and the regulars 🙂 We’re looking at...

@Tom Lehmann our Puratos rep says that out pizza dough recipe will work the same with unbromated flour, but the thinks we’ll have to adjust our hoagie roll recipe. He said mixing longer and adding a little bit more yeast is a good place to start. Do you have any other advice? He’s sending us 10...

I feel like everyone we get from online doesn’t stick around for too long. They always seem to be on the hunt for the next job. That being said, a lot of the 16-22 y/o that we have now are the best that I’ve seen in a while. I’m optimistic about this group. To me, the younger people seem to...

We have a Gemini roll in proof box, had a Baxter roll in before this. The Baxter lasted for 25 years, Gemini is still going strong at ~10 years

I really like our Randell unit. We also have several Continentals that work great, just have an extra hinge assembly on hand as they (the hinges) tend to break every couple years. Every thing that matters on the continental is dependable and the hinges aren’t too expensive when you fix them...

I’ll add that we used to have 2 Garland air deck ovens and 2 blodgett deck ovens at the same time. A noticeable amount of customers would ask for their pies to be baked in the Blodgetts instead of the Garlands. When we switched to only having stone deck ovens we did see a significant increase in...

IMO the quality of product that a deck oven produces is worth the extra labor. The main labor problem that I’ve found is the learning curve for actually cooking a pizza properly in a deck oven. George is correct that the temperature of the deck ovens does fall when we’re really busy. We offset...

Thanks everyone! I think I’m going to have to divide things into zones, and specific times for when its acceptable to wait for another order. I just really want a set of ‘rules’ so I can set parameters for drivers that they have to follow unless a manager makes an exception for the benefit of...

I’m looking to have a more specific method of running our deliveries to make things more efficient and to get the food out the door faster. Our way of running deliveries works great when we have veteran drivers that know the area really well, but it’s always a hassle for new drivers to figure...

I worked for Pjs while in college. IMO their discount for schools/churches was pretty low (10 % off I think). My experience is that if you give a church a solid discount then their congregants will repay you by loyally going to your store. We charge $7.50 for a lg 16 in pizza ($8.50 w/ one...

I never respond to reviews. I try not to look at them too often. I’m not sure how close you are to your customers, but if you have some that really appreciate your place just tell them that you would appreciate it if they would take the time to leave a review. I feel like people are more likely...

Our schedule is the same every week. We’ll add people on to particularly busy days and ask people if they want off for days that we know will be slow. I’ve asked our managers and employees if they would rather have a schedule that changes every week or every other week and the consensus is that...

We use wooden peels made by a company called Lillsun. I don’t like the metal ones because they never seem to last. If you’re going to get a wood peel then try Lillsun. They’re a lot thinner than the other brands, so they handle much like a metal one.

We used an AM S300 for a long time, its a great machine but a bear to clean. We just started using a Vemag 500. it’s more versatile than the AM S300 but also more expensive and has a bigger footprint.

We had a surprise 7 hour visit from the Pennsylvania Dept of Agriculture yesterday. The inspector wants us to have an FSMA (Food safety modernization act) food safety plan written within 30 days. Does anyone have one that they are willing to share? Specifically the preventive controls section...

I recently tried direct mail postcards for the first time, it’s cheaper than menus and we got a great response. We just did 2 simple coupons, with the coupons printed really big so the recipient could see them before deciding whether or not to throw it out. We did $1 off any medium pizza $2 off...

We have multiple units and have been in business for 40 years. Up until now, we’ve always been able to promote from within. I’m not saying that times have changed that much, just that we’re having a drought of employees that aspire to make a career out of managing a location. Last month, I had a...

Thanks Paul. I will talk to pizzapirate about LBC. I contacted LP this afternoon, I like that they have a test kitchen 2 hours from me. They’re both cheaper than the Hobart that we have now.

Paul, Is there anything in particular that you like about the LBC or LP Group mixer more that the Empire 160 that you currently have? The Logiudice Forni that we are looking at is the same manufacturer that makes the Empire. Should I broaden my search to the two that you are looking at for your...

We have two. A 190 quart Hobart HF-190 and a back up 120 Nussex 120-HD. They are both getting old and parts are hard to come by. The circuit panel is starting to go in the Hobart and they stopped selling the part in 2012, it seems like everyone stopped stocking a lot of the parts a while ago...