1st Catering Order

Pizza Shop Talk The Think Tank
1

Just got back from doing our first big catering order for a window / door manufacturing company. They phoned last night and asked if we could do 35 large pizzas ( various types of signature pizzas ) for a staff lunch today. The guy is one of our really good customers so I said yes. Forgot that I am half way through renovations in my house with the plumber and electrician coming today to cut floors and walls for piping and wiring. :oops:

Anyway got a staff member in to help roll out, make, cook and cut. Used the cook calculator to work out cook time and everything went well to plan. As they cooked we cut and boxed and stored on top of the oven with the last few going straight into bags. The ones on the ovens were put back under for about 30 seconds ( in open box :o ) to give tops a blast of heat then into the bags and off to delivery - about 15 minutes away.

All went well ( just a few minutes late due to traffic and heavy rain), but the job needed planning to the “t” to meet the delivery time required. Good start for the day with a $420 order value.

I know this is only a small order compared to some from other posts on this subject and I tried to go with recommendations you guys had made. I think if I did it again I would look at a heater cabinet to keep the made ones hot rather than slot back under - will need to invest in one of these though :cry: Also doing the order on a single MM PS 360 conveyor was not the best option but this is all I have.

To cap it off a guy phoned ans aked if we had a website so he could look at our menu and order 10 large pizzas for his office for lunch. I had to tell him our site is under construction, we don’t have a fax, our menu is not faxable and that we don’t normally open at lunch time, only open from 5pm. Also I said with a couple of days notice we could do special orders out of opening times but today we had a huge order that needed delivery when he wanted his. As it was we couldn’t meet his requirements with this other order - shame.

To top it off I got home and went to have a shave and shower to refresh up for tonights rush (Friday) to find the plumber has the water an gas turned off - thank goodness for deodorant and toyugh skin for a dry shave :lol:

Dave

A

2

Congrats, those bigger orders are tough on those of us with smaller oven capacities, but it feels good after you’ve banged them out.

We’ve been getting some 20-50 large pizza orders, along with 10-30 orders of our signature breadstick(ish) item, once or twice a week from some local groups this summer and I always struggle with getting them out on time. Where did you find the cook time calculator you mentioned?

3

Go to www.restaurantpartner.com (used to be pizzapartner.com) and on the home page on the right hand side there is a “tools” section with conveyor calculator listed. All you do is find your oven put in the pan size, cook time and how many pizzas and it calculates it for you. It’s great to work your timings. We have a list on the kitchen wall near the prep bench with multiple orders for each of the 4 sizes we do. When we get a big order we can tell the order staff how long the order will take rather than second guessing. It works great for orders placed a couple hours before they need it as you can work out exactly the time to start putting them in the oven.

4

I have a Lincoln 1450, double stack. I run about 6m to 6.30m. I have found from experience that I can plan on, cushion included, 2 min per pizza. If I use both ovens, I plan on 1 min per pizza with orders over 8 pizzas. I have used this calculation on a weekly basis for over 4 years. I offer a 12", 14" and 17" pizza. The 12 and 14 can ride in side by side but I stagger the 17’s.
George Mills and Tom Lehman have posted previously how to calculate these no.s.

bubba

5

one easy way is to scan your menu to pdf and email it