Don’t sell slices and never have in my career but might try them out when we open for lunch starting in January.
I have a conveyor oven. For those that do slices, I want a really good quality product and I’m wondering if you guys par-bake the pizzas or do you cook them the whole way and just re-heat?
How long are you cooking the slice on your conveyor and what size of a pie are you cutting slices from?
How are you storing the slices before they’re bought?
Any help would be great, thanks!
Back in the day when we sold slices and not a buffet, we used a heat cabinet with humidity control. Cooked the pizza completely in the conveyor oven. Pizza’s were good for up to 1 hour, generally they were gone in 5 minutes tho except at the end of lunch.
We used 16" pizza’s back then and cut them into 8 slices.
We use deck ovens and sell slices during lunch (cheese and pepperoni only). We bake the pies normally and then display them and reheat on the deck when ordered to crisp the slices. This brings them back to near perfect and only takes a minute or so. Walter
We do alot of slices (18"pie cut in 8 slices) througout the day and use a conveyor although we push it forward on the belt like if someone ordered a lite cooked pie. We have a glass display case that we have our normal lunch line-up of cheese, pep, bacon, 1/2 meatball, 1/2 sauasage, 1/2 shroom 1/2 onion&pepper and the specialty slice of the day (regular rotation every week). We finish the slices in an electric bakers pride 2 stone shelf countertop oven (fits an 18" pie on each deck) for 2min @400…this oven also comes in handy to finish all well-done pies that are ordered. We offer 2 cheese slices and a drink for $4.99 & 2 with toppings and a drink for $5.99. After lunch we only offer cheese, pep & the specialty slice of the day. Health dept. requires us to keep a log so we get by with entering all slice pies in the POS and keep the receipt in a box so there is a time stamp of when they are made…pretty easy…if slices are out too long we take them out of the case and drivers usually eat those for free
Thanks Perry, how long does the Health Dept allow you to keep the slices in that non-refrigerated display before they are no longer compliant? This is probably how we’ll end up doing it so thanks for your help.
Joe;
I think you will find that some health departments go by the 4-hour rule while others will require holding at a food safe temperature (heated or refrigerated). Since you will be answering to your local health department you are advised to contact them to see how THEY want you to hold the pizzas.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
Agreed, thanks Tom. Was just curious how he did it. Wish all the health dept would just require the same black and white rules for all establishments to make it easier for everyone, especially multi-unit operators who have units spanning over several different cities, counties, and even states. Frustrating sometimes!
Joe;
As you probably already know, the health department requirements are only half of it, when you add in the inspectors and all of their idiosyncrasies you are dancing to a BUNCH of different tunes, and then you have “I don’t care what the previous inspector said” routine. OMG!
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
luckily they sell quick (within an hour) so it has been a non-issue for us…in our area this is the norm to sell slices but like Tom says it all depends how they interpret the code and what mood the inspector is in that day…I would see how others do it in your area and go with that
Yes and no,
We just need to assert to the inspectors that they are tasked to enforce laws as written, anything outside of what is written as law does not matter.
When I start hearing “What I’d like to see” from an inspector, I stop them right there and ask them to cite the statute they are basing this “what I’d like to see” on.
I’m not a dick about it, but I explain that I have studied the food code inside out and backwards, and if they want to see something else that is not written as law, they need to come forward with a cite based on fact.
You’ve got time & temp, once you are in the 40-140 zone, you have 4 hours to fully consume, dispose of, or get the food out of that 40-140 zone.
I owned a slice-only business for 10 years and we do slices in our DELCO for lunch from 11-2. We bake completely in our conveyor ovens and then keep ready to serve in a HATCO warmer that keeps the temp above 140 with humidity. We generally have 2-3 pizzas ready to go. We make the pizzas 1/2-1/2 so there are always several choices available.
My business is 50% slices. I do a 19" pie, cut into 8ths. I keep in a holding cabinet, no heat or humidy. We recrisp/reheat on the stone (GP51) per order. I throw out after 1- 1.5 hours if it doesnt sell & make freshies.
Appreciate the feedback, fellow Californian. Happy Thanksgiving!