We have a restaurant /bar that will be 1 year old this July 15th. It’s been quite a year for us newbies. Our sleepy resort town will go from population 600 now to 12,000 from 4th of July to Labor Day, plus the traffic from other resort towns around us.
We will do 200 pizzas/night (4:00-midnight), 100 10" and 100 16".
We have a 1958 Blodgett 981 that I restored and which came from a local landmark that is now gone. I and many others are emotionally attached to it because of its history. The 981 can NOT keep up with the Summer volume although it works pretty well in the off-season. You all here have educated me on the 981 with its 50,000 btu burner; not really a “pizza” oven per se. The bottom does a pretty good job and we often start pies on the bottom with a screen and move them to the top without the screen to finish.
The wife and business manager (I have a day job) wants to lose the 981 and get two(2) Blodgett 1060’s or BP Y600’s.
I am suggesting we get one(1) Blodget 1060 (120,000btu) and stack the 981 above it. We bake 16’s in the big oven and smalls in the bottom of the 981. Use the top of the 981 for bread, soup, lasagna, sizzle platters and all the other stuff we’ve found it very useful for. I am interested in the energy savings of the 981 rather than firing up 1 or 2 120,000 btu beasts every time and this seems like a good flexible combo to me.
I will handle the venting issues.
We’re out of money.
My question: Do you all think this arrangement will handle the volume I describe in our Summer months? Thanks in advance, C.
Re: I need equipment advice please… to take to the board(w
I can not provide much input on ovens from an operation’s standpoint, however, the “antique” has huge marketing value…Perhaps you should come up with some special pizzas that are baked in the old oven…Premium pizza at a premium price…Put photos of the old oven on your flyers…RCS…
Re: I need equipment advice please… to take to the board(w
Since your wife is in the shop managing, I would go with what she wants. Seems pretty straightforeward there.
Now if you are really attached to that old oven, then cut the front off and put it up on the wall with a framed ‘historical description’ next to it. People couldn’t could care less about an old oven door in a museum, but I bet it would be a much talked about fixture in your shop. I am pretty sure thare aren’t many shops with 60 year old ovens around. Time it with a well written summer press release targeting the ‘townies’, and you could max out those new ovens as well.
Or just throw in a MM PS360. 212-12 inch pies an hour was the old tag line they used i believe.
Re: I need equipment advice please… to take to the board(w
She runs the business and the bar but knows very little about the kitchen other than people bitching that they don’t get their food fast enough. I think we want to stay with decks; they suit our pizza style… C.
Re: I need equipment advice please… to take to the board(w
When you find people complaining about the time it takes to get a pizza, you need to make the move and make it quick.
As much as I can appreciate the “old” oven it is just that OLD people don’t care about the historical emotion of the oven. They want a pizza and expecting it in a reasonable amount of time.
It is a business decision and should be kept as that, your emotional attatchment will not pay the bills nor will it bring em back next year.
Here’s an example you aren’t emotionally attatched to, hopefully it will prove the point:
I like those old fashioned phones you wind up but appreciating them and trying to use them in a telemarketing business is ridiculous.
If you want to succeed you need to make success a possibility. Get a couple of new decks and enjoy the compliments your customers give for great pizza instead of complaints.
Take a picture of the oven and put it on your nightstand.
Re: I need equipment advice please… to take to the board(w
Point taken. The 981 is a fine oven and works quite well if you understand its shortcomings (50,000 btu). Do you believe that one big deck and the 981 will still be a struggle for us?
Re: I need equipment advice please… to take to the board(w
You have only been open a year and not only out grown your oven you are losing business because of it.
Think big. The goal is to increase business. So if you stay with a steady increase and get one deck and use the old one you will be having this conversation 2 years from now. If it were me I would make the investment and buy a double stack new oven which will help you years down the road.
When we opened our 2nd location we decided to get a bigger double stack so we would always have enough room. The new deck oven is going to last years and years so why not get a double stack big enough now so you aren’t dealing with this a couple of years from now.
Sure you can add another stack down the road but in the long run it costs more than just doing it now.
Just my 2 cents. I wish we would have gone bigger at our first location because we are just about maxed out.
Re: I need equipment advice please… to take to the board(w
I agree with future expansion. Now keep in mind we are in the process of opening in a few months, but I allocated space in our floor plan for 2 stacks of deck ovens even though we are only starting with one stack at this time.
I know at some point we will need another set of decks and having to figure out where to put them and rearranging the kitchen space would be a huge headache.
Re: I need equipment advice please… to take to the board(w
Actually, our marketplace could make use of the “historic oven” appeal. Our area is a historic tourism place that can sell the ‘emotional attachment’ to the oven.
That said, I would make it a secondary part of the operation. I might have it run for special occasions or something . . . and get a workhorse that will meet the demand. We are looking at that same decisions very soon, and it will hurt a bit if we don’t find a good price for a used oven. No way we can afford a new one . . . so we just comb the places for a good oven at a price we can afford.
First and foremost, you gotta satisfy the customers’ demands. the you can find ways to market the coolness factor. BTW, whatcha want for that ‘not a pizza oven’? I got its twin here, and could use another less than efficient gas hog that we already know how to use
Re: I need equipment advice please… to take to the board(w
Get what your wife suggested. You know you want to.
And I like the suggestions of using the old oven as a ‘conversation’ peice.
Is your setup capable of keeping it too? In use or on display, that might be cool.
Re: I need equipment advice please… to take to the board(w
I want to if she turns out to be right and we NEED two 120,000 btu monsters to keep up. I was looking to this board to comment about handling our volume with one big deck and our 981. I think my wife is erring on the safe side and she might very well be right. The money is an issue to me but she’s more of a “we have to do it and we’ll figure out how to pay later” type. We have built it and they have come and she knows they’re coming back in another two months so she’s paranoid and I don’t really blame her. I’m trying to save us some money without being stupid but if we do it my way and are wrong, it will be a long summer… Thanks, C.
