Hello All…
I am looking at opening a pizza shop locally and have been putting together a business plan and I am trying to nail down some specific items for the kitchen and need some suggestions please. The type of pizza I am lookling at will be a thin crust NY style…maybe just slightly more thickness to it but in large pie sizes upto 18" cut in wedges like it should be and also a Chicago style Lou’s pizza… I grew up 3 blocks from one of their first locations in Elk Grove and Iowa needs pizza like that. A few of the items I have researched and decided upon are the Baker’s Pride Y-802’s for ovens, a Somerset CDR-2000 dough roller for the NY style, and a True pizza prep table. A couple of items I am still questioning is the floor mixer… either a Hobart or a Globe? Looking at the 60 qt pizza version of both. Hobart is a bit more money and the more I read the less I am impressed with them anymore. My family was in the food production buisness for 25 years and had used their products with no poroblems but their newer items just do not seem to be the same high quality that the old ones were. Any comments? Also, as far as tables go. What do you all recommend for dough roll outs… on stainless steel? poly? wood? I am really leaning towards a hard maple wood top with 3-sided splash to control the flour dust a little. What works best for you? Same questions for the cut table. I know cutting on SS is not a great options and poly boards can be a pain to clean up… again I like the idea of natural maple…How well has this worked and held up. Also, If anyone has any general tips or suggestions on products or kitchen items that really have held up well or things that were a big waste… pass them on. I want to do this right the first time and I think with a little extra effort and time invested ahead of time… I can hopefully save myself a few headaches down the road. Thanks for any suggestions and advice. I am sure I will have plenty more questions to follow. - Michael 
Lots of questions…
As far as the true pizza prep table goes I think you can get a better unit through continental. I love rolling on wood. I season mine from time to time with olive oil and a lite dusting of flour. Maple is a nice wood, right now I have birch. I have no idea about the oven that you picked. If you want to spend money on a top quality deck oven try giving Dino a call at www.veroforno.com There are alot of great people here on this site who can help you. Welcome and enjoy the info!
I will tell you that I have found the newer Hobart stuff to be not of the same quality as the old ones. Globe mixers are actually pretty good. We carry them and they are popular dough mixers. Doyon is a close second.
Wood top work tables can be nice but they do require more care than stainless. Another consideration is to check local regulations and health codes because there are places where wood tables aren’t allowed for food prep.
P.S. we are actually developing a pizza restaurant specialty store specifically to help people starting out and looking to find out about all the equipment they need. You will be able to look at pictures of what other operations have done and what equipment people are using and then you can choose to buy from us or just use the ideas and go to whatever dealer you’d like. This store should be live in about 4-5 weeks.
Good luck with your opening!
Thanks…As I said, I am sure I will be throwing out a lot of questions over the next few months as things come together. Feel free to make as many suggestions as you like. I like to do my homework on items and get some first hand feedback before making the final decisions. I will check into any and all comments that come my way. Thanks again.
Hi qcfmike:
Taking it from the top. The Y 600 and Y 800 ovens are the same BTU. The Y 600 therefore provides more BTU per sq Inch of baking space. Depends a lot on the size pizzas you will be baking as to which is best for your operation.The only case where I would consider the Y 800 over the Y 600 is if 20 inch pizzas are to be baked.
Your ventilation system will be very important as to comfort in the shop, and cost of operation. The wrong design could leave you very uncomfortable and cost thousands more per year to operate than necessary
Our clients report the maple bakers tables are great to work on but most buy stainless.
We have placed thousands of reconditioned Hobart mixers with pizza operators. All of which to our knowledge are still out there. Our and our clients opinion is that a good reconditioned 60 qt Hobart is better than any new planetary style mixer and the cost is substantially less.
Our opinion is that the La Rosa prep table is the best but they, as are most premium product, are more costly.
If you are still in the planing stage we would be happy to do a floor plan for your facility at no charge including an advanced technology ventilation system.
George Mills pizzaovens@aol.com
I am also setting up a new Pizza Restaurant. My question is about the vent system. Types, sizes, requirements etc…
BTY-- This is a great place to be, I’ve learned alot so far. Thanks
Reel: could you be more specific about what vent system you are trying to find out about? Are you speaking in general for the kitchen or for certain pieces of equipment. Generally speaking, there are going to be local regulations that will have to be followed that will depend on the types of equipment and the heat and other factors. Most dealers will be able to give you the information you need based off of what equipment is going in.
Hi reel:
Ventilation is a critical element in the equipping of a pizza shop.
By national building code any cooking devise that can raise the temperature of product to 220 degrees is required to have a hood, be it gas or electrically heated. The object of hoods is to exhaust heat and cooking orders whatever the source of the heat.
Health and building departments have stringent rules as to the amount of air to be exhausted by various styles of hoods. It is also a requirement that the same amount of air exhausted from the building be brought back into the building at or near room temperature. The comfort level for workers and customers is also a factor for consideration.
The air that is brought back into the building is referred to as make up air. A properly ventilated building has slightly higher air pressure than outside air pressure. If outside air pressure is higher than inside doors are hard to open and when doors are opened outside air rushes in bringing dust, dirt, humidity,plus hot and or cold outside air in maks uncomfortable drafts. Gas fired appliances also can starve for oxygen and not operate properly. Cooking odors are retained in the building and other problems arise.
Recall the old description of many restaurants as greasy spoons? That was because without proper ventilation everything in the building felt greasy.
There are hoods that have been tested by Underwriter laboratories or others such as ETL. Hoods thus tested and certified require substantially less exhaust and make up air than unlisted hoods some times half as much. Less air exhausted = less A/C lost.
The required make up air can be provided in two ways. A separate make up air unit can be installed or sufficient air conditioning can be provided through the Heating & cooling system to supply the required make up air.
We prefer the use of listed hoods that extract little air from the building plus sufficient air conditioning, which is not great when these type hoods are used.
Initial cost of the listed hoods and sufficient air conditioning is about the same, or a little bit more, as the unlisted hoods and make up air systems .
There is a much better comfort level working with sufficient air conditioning and substantially less cost to operate each year. Rule of the thumb for make up air operating cost is $1.50 per CFM per year,for example, 2000 CFM = $3000.00 yr.
It should be noted that most buildings used for carry out-delivery pizza shops are about 20 ft wide 60 or 70 ft. long and are usually equipped, as an empty building, with a 5 -ton air conditioner. Those first five tons of air conditioning are just about enough to break even with the heat of the oven, heat from the various compressors and food warmers. It is what ever you add to those first five tons of air conditioning that cools your lobby and work area.
Usually we find that 10 to 12 tons or better of air conditioning is required to cool the average shop to tolerable working temperatures. Naturally larger sit down shops need More A/C.
In a few parts of the nation, where the temperature never falls very low and humidity is extremely low a simple filtered fan system that brings in outside air can be used. Unfortunately that type system brings in a lot of extremely hot air during the warmer part of the day and the air conditioning system cannot cope making the shop very uncomfortable to work in.
Most all makeup air system do not cool summer air, they just warm winter air, making the shop extremely hot in summer when super heated air off the roof is brought into the building.
In the very few, always warn and very dry, low humidity areas an evaporative cooler might be used. We do not recommend the those types of make up air systems.
Hope this helps you If you would like we would be happy to AT NO CHARGE do a professional floor plan for you and spec in the best and lowest cost to operate ventilation system
George Mills pizzaovens@aol.com