We are in the final stages of opening up our restaurant and my partner and I have been having an argument that I was hoping to get some input on.
First off, we are mostly a whole-pie kinda place but slices will be offered. As such, we don’t anticipate a huge, constantly moving, volume of slices. That said, the question involves the pizza display/warmer.
He wants to get a humidified warmer, thinking that the slice will stay better longer. As you know, these warmers are far more expensive, larger and there is much less variety to choose from then the non-humidified warmers. My view on it is that if the slices are sticking around so long that we NEED a humidified warmer that we aren’t pushing enough of the product to even justify having it on the menu.
I totally agree with you here. If you’re not going to sell many slices, I don’t think there’s much point in doing them at all (which is why I don’t.) I don’t want somebody eating a 30 minute old slice and then thinking it’s representative of our product overall. That doesn’t bode well for me selling them a full pizza later on.
We sell slices. It’s not on our menu and we don’t do a lot of advertising for it. We sell about 1.5 to 2 pies a day. We bake it lightly, let it cool for about 10 mins. Then cut it(16" pie) into 4’s and then put them in a sealed plastic container between deli paper and then in the fridge. When we get an order we just toss it in the oven for a minute. Eezzeee-peezzzzeee-japaneezzzzzeee.
We have a glass display that the slices are in on the front counter. When the customer orders a slice, we throw it the oven for about 40 seconds and it tastes just like it did when it was freshly made. I’m sure your recipe plays a big part in how the pizza tastes when it is reheated.
TD’s method is similar to what Tom “The Dough Doctor” preaches. He can edit and correct me but I believe it’s opening a dough, LIGHTLY saucing and “par” baking. One then cools the pre-sauced skin, and racks it under cover till it’s needed. When a slice is ordered it’s a simple matter of adding more sauce to freshen it up, dress the slice, then 2-3 minutes in the oven to reheat and warm the toppings.
Fair to point out that you don’t want to load your slice down with multiple toppings, and certainly would stay away from uncooked meats.