We had a guy who could do that. . . his nickname was Isosceles.
I find it so interesting how everyone has a bit of a spin on the whole process. I like the wall hanging thing…but it would be a disaster in our set up. We wouldn’t have the extra couple of seconds to fold the boxes. We store folded boxes under our cut and pack table. We store the other folded on high shelves in our back room. The space couldn’t really be used for anything else so not a waste. We use a wheel never ever even cut a pizza with a rocker…isn’t that odd been doing it for years and never ever even touched a rocker…might be fun to try. And so then the thread goes to squares and triangles.
We do both depending on the crust.
I just find it interesting.
As for the web page you can bet the competition looks at your sight…I know I look at our competitor’s menus, prices, operation.
Interesting thread,may have to pick up a rocker for fun.
Kris
Great list. Glad you’re paying attention…
Are you guys nutz? Seriously, you are debating about folding boxes! Go sell some pizza for crying out loud!
I can’t sell the pizza unless I fold the box . . . before or after baking the pie. 
Almost reminds me of the Biter Butter Battle Book and a chapter from Gullivers’ Travels . . . the Lilliputians and their enemies argued over which end of the egg to open, thin or fat.
I have actually learned of an alternate style of boxes from this debate. And that is what this forum is all about.
I’d have to agree with Daddio, as I have learned something new as well…
Same here. Got me thinking about the way we plan to do it and weighing out the alternatives. Better than the insipid cowpatty posts of late.
I come from the Domino’s line, and that is pretty much what started box folding. It is completely wrapped up in their operations and POS.
-Boxes are folded and set behind the phone counter.
-Orders are taken on the POS and labels print next to the boxes.
-Boxes are labeled and then placed above the cut table.
-Pizzas generally come out of the oven in the order they are taken, but not all the time.
How does your unfolded system deal with box labels? Doesn’t that lead to confusion?
My shop could not make a box as needed, the volume is to great. There is a reason why large pizza chains and small mom & pop shops prefold boxes. The reality of this business is that time is money. I am quit sure that a pizza that can be cut in a box should be cut in a box, not deep dish or pans. When a rush hits and your oven is loaded, deck or conveyor, you dont need to be worrying about the time and space it takes to fold a box as needed. I have over 2500 private label boxes ranging from 10" to a full sheet prefolded, then they have specials glued on them and are ready to be sent out the door. Since this is all done, the time useage is gone and the hassle folding a box on a friday or saturday night is goneand the searching for boxtopers and glue or tape is also gone. Employees then are left with the task at hand of making great food, giving great customer service, and making the promised time of delivery or pick-up. With the ever changing business, my focus is on how i can improve my food, give better value, and make it more cost effecient, not fixing what is not broken. If space is an issue perhaps add a shelf above your boxing table, make the boxes close to what your nite usage would be or even look around and see how you could improve the flow of your system, you would be suprised at the “stuff” that uses up valuable shelf space. Thats just my cowpatty input.
For the 4th time… I use the same system I use when I worked at a MILLION dollar plus pizza shop… On Friday nights we did over 7k and sometimes close or over 10k taking pizzas out every couple seconds, sometimes 2 at a time… We never had a problem (NEVER), so unless you’re doing much more than that, I dont see how you can say your “volume is too great”…
We use tickets, not labels. The new ticket always goes to the left, the right being the oldest. When you notice that the pizzas are coming out you pull down the corresponding box, cut, and staple ticket to box.
2 things
- I saw your pics, but didn’t see the ticket printer. Could you point it out?
- Aren’t staples considered not food safe in your market? I know they couldn’t be used in Minnesota.
Kinda hard to point it out in those pictures because that is the cutting line… But if you would like, I could take a picture of it just so you can see what a ticket printer looks like.
We make the pizzas on the pizza prep table (where the ticket printer is), and the ticket follows the pizza… So once it goes into the oven, the ticket goes over the cutting table.
And nope, never had a problem with the staplers…
well you see there’s your problem… a pizza (or even 2) every couple of seconds and it take you 11 seconds to cut and box a pizza do the maths - it doesn’t work does it ? :roll:
my concern with not prefolding is this, I have 4 large deck ovens, one oven guy running all 4 most of the time, I would rather my oven guy be concerned with the quality of the pizzas he is pulling not folding boxes. im with pizzadave on the theory of doing as much as possible to prepare for the rush. there are times when we empty a entire oven at once, that can be up to 13 smalls/sticks, so to have to fold, cut, post top, sell to the expoditer, scrape and reload before the next oven burns seems like your gonna burn out the oven guy. although our setup is screwy as hell since we are a theatrepub.
sheb
Ok, maybe I should have reworded it. You took it too literal (which you’re right for doing so). Obviously not every single pizza throughout the night would come out seconds after another… Of course there WERE times where they did come out that fast though, but majority of the time it wouldn’t be every couple of seconds. You could leave the door open while on that shelf while you catch up, or pull the extra pizzas out and set them aside while you catch up too.
Basically, I’m not arguing with any of you guys that you’re methods are incorrect. I just know my method works for me and its a proven system in a very very high output 30+ year old establishment with 24-30 pie capacity ovens. Everyone has something different and thats what makes us all special and unique.
Steveo - on a weekend we typically do 60-100 pie hours - what was this figure in this store?
Its been years since I’ve worked their but I know we did over 7k per night, sometimes close if, not more, than 10k. I don’t know how many pie’s that breaks down to per hour. But it the ovens would be completely full from 4:45 through about 8ish.
I’ve never seen the fold after cut method before, so it’s hard for me to actually visualize the process from what’s written here. It sounds like you have people move the tickets from make line, to oven, to cut table in the process. That is a few seconds per ticket move, that the prefolders who put the labels on the boxes don’t have to do. You seem to be saving time on the prefold, but loosing a bit on the manual ticket moves.
More chances to loose or misplace a ticket that way. Are missing tickets a hassle?
It’d be interesting if someone made a list of pros and cons of each method and listed them side by side to compare.