How Do I prepare for a 150 pizza order?

[snowman]

td_VP192:

I’ll tell ya why…(slow,inspiring music begins)…

-When others said ‘no’, Joe Namath said ‘Yes we will win. I guarentee it.’

-When others said ‘no way’, the 1980 US Olympic hockey team beat the mighty Russians in the biggest upset in sports history.

-When others said ‘neign’, the Berlin wall came down.

When a pizza takes 7 minutes to cook (I mean BAKE, doh!), and you can cook 10 at a time, you can not, under any circumstances overcome the fact that you can cook no more than 10 pizzas every 7 minutes. You cannot change that 15 sets of 10 pizzas takes 15 * 7, or that 15*7=105. The first pizzas to come out of the oven would have to sit for no less than 98 minutes, which is 1 hour and 38 minutes.

Joe Namath wasn’t locked up in chains with no offensive line in front of him.

The hockey team in question wasn’t required to be off the ice with no goalie and a rink-wide goal on their end of the ice with no goal on the other end.

The Berlin wall was not knocked down by a single ant.

When a stock Chevette is going 50 mph and crashes head-on into a semi coming the other direction at 90 mph, there simply is no way the Chevette wins that altercation. If you think otherwise, I’ll chip in a few bucks for that Chevette .

 

[NicksPizza]

snowman:

. . . SNIP . . . .The Berlin wall was not knocked down by a single ant. . . . . . .

EVERYBODY TOGETHER . . . . . . “But he . . had . . . Hiiiiiiigh hopes. He . . had . . hiiiiiigh hopes. Hi apple piiiiie in the skyyyyy hopes.”

 

[system]

I don’t get it, somebody post a topic “how to prepare for a 150 pizza order” then like we all do, we try to help right? so I figure since I deal with this 3 times a year for the last 6 years I though I could give my inside… then all the sudden some of you guys are jumping on me, questioning me, trying to get me to crack or something… first of all, why would I lie? do we make money by replying or something?.. my point is all I tried to do is give my strategy and insides of how we deal with it… just trying to help guys that’s all, calm down… maybe some of you guys freak out when u get a big order and instead of getting it done, you sit down and figure ways of how not to get it done instead of planning a plan of attack… by getting those big orders done we have benefit a lot from it because now the town knows we are ready for any kind of order… just today a good customer came down to please an order for june 14… chicken broccolie alfredo dinners and eggplant dinners for 225 people… keep in mind we pound and bread our own chicken for the dinners… so talking about pounding and frying alooottt of chicken… should we just say no to her? like some of you proud owners would? … naahh we stick to what we do and get it done…

 

[td_VP192]

RaymiR:

… just today a good customer came down to please an order for june 14… chicken broccolie alfredo dinners and eggplant dinners for 225 people… keep in mind we pound and bread our own chicken for the dinners… so talking about pounding and frying alooottt of chicken… should we just say no to her? like some of you proud owners would? … naahh we stick to what we do and get it done…

Yeah, yeah… that’s that ticket… she ordered 25… I mean 225 dinners. My wife, Britney Spe… I mean Julia Rober… I mean Morgan Fairchild took the order yeah yeah.

Kidding aside. We appreciate the extensive knowledge you’ve gained owning Large Order Hut. Be grateful that you get such wonderful orders and continue to bless us with your wisdom.

Now go pound some chicken. :shock:

BTW: You put breaded and fried chicken in your chicken alfredo dinner ?? I’ve never heard of that.

 

[NicksPizza]

RaymiR:

iam not trying to down grade anybody but I don’t think is that much of a big deal… sorry guys that’s how I feel… for us every year get 3 big orders like that, for the school, fire dept open house and police dept open house… . . . . .

I appreciate the information you are giving. It just doesn’t actually all match up with the challenges the question provieds. With the laims of easy-breezy do not come the rather significant issue of delivery plus maintaining fresh from the oven quality during that trip . . . in addition to the 2 hour bake time.

Our overwhelming experience is that 1 hour, let alone 2 hours, on top of an oven inside a pizza box will not preserve 98% of the original quality of a pizza. You haven’t told us anything really super-secret that corrects our experience. Heck, there have been numerous threads in the last 6 monjths beggin for info about preserving the crust’s out of oven quality for 20 MINUTES in a box. That’s where lots of skepticism is coming from, I believe.

Personally, I have trouble keeping 90% of fresh quality in one boxed pizza on my oven top for 15 minutes. Steam and cardboard are unkind mistresses. Put 150 of them, and the curve will drop steeply.

I do believe the challenge is possible to overcome . . . I do not believe that I could ever deliver 150 pies anywhere (even my dining room) all at one time with all pies being 98% from perfect condition using 2 deck ovens and whatever preparation I could do. I cannot overcome the physics of having to cook for 1.5 to 2 hours. The first 6 pies will NEVER be even close in comparision to the last batch out of the oven . . . in my shop.

We want to live in the world where it can be done. And you already do. We really want to know what you are doing differently than we are to make it happen and with ease. Please share.

 

[snowman]

RaymiR, I don’t think anyone was attacking you on this (I know I wasn’t). The OP tells us what he’s got, what he wants to accomplish and we go from there. Doing 150 pizzas with a triple-stack conveyor is different than doing it with a single small deck oven. If you do 150 pie orders, please tell us what equipment you use and how you accomplish it. I stand by my personal assertion that it’s not prudent to attempt with a double-stack of ovens able to bake a total of 10 pizzas at a time. I can’t imagine stacking more than about 10 or so pizzas on top of a deck oven.

I know a double-stack of conveyors can handle 150 pizzas in an hour – I’ve done it. But his own math says his deck ovens cannot accomplish this. If he tried to deliver all 150 pizzas at once, the oldest pizzas would be over two hours old by the time they got served.

 

[system]

I didn’t mean to snap guys sorry… I just feel that iam trying to give my opinion and some people think iam lying… I just don’t understand why would I lie…

yes for the chicken brocc alfredo dinners and chicken parm dinners we use fresh pounded and breaded chicken… a lot of people do it with grilled chicken, people loved the chicken fried around here…

nick, honestly I wish there was some super secret that we have because trust me I would give it away, anything to help anybody here… like I said, we lucky that the places are near… also we keep the pizzas as warm as we can, top of the oven, next to the oven… maybe 98 percent is pushing it but let’s say 93 percent… we never had any complaints about them, maybe they understand that we such of big order the pies aren’t going to be 100 percent…

snowman, we have 2 deck oven… each one can take 8 but we only put 7 at the time so we can rotate them around… so we do 14 at the time or if we wanted to 16…

 

[MM1]

Is that 2 decks, or two DOUBLE-decks…
Just checking, in case it clears up the question of production.

 

[NicksPizza]

MM:

Is that 2 decks, or two DOUBLE-decks…
Just checking, in case it clears up the question of production.

Prvious post included: “snowman, we have 2 deck oven… each one can take 8 but we only put 7 at the time so we can rotate them around… so we do 14 at the time or if we wanted to 16…”

Tells me it is two compartments worth of cooking space, and 7 to 8 per compartment. Sounds like a BP Y802 or some such.

 

[system]

One thing you might want to consider is going to some used equipment places to find an old, cheap conveyor oven that is set up for propane. Get up super early, par bake the pies in your oven, then take them to the school and finish them up with the conveyor on site. You should be making enough off the order to pay for (or at least nearly so) the oven, and you’re set up for all sorts of possibilities for catering and special off site events in the future. Don’t settle for making this a one shot deal!

If you do try baking them all the way onsite & delivering them fully cooked, do 2 things in addition to whatever other advice you take from here:

1. Leave your ovens up all the way the night before - you want those suckers as hot as possible when you get there in the morning, and
2. Wear a pair of shorts & turn off the exhaust fan & AC before you start. That kitchen is going to get hotter than hell before you’re done, but the ovens won’t die as quick and the pies stacked on top of the oven will keep much better.

I’m looking for a conveyor for large, catering style orders myself because the 2nd way is a far from perfect solution, and by the time I’m done making those orders in that manner I feel like the wicked witch of the west (I’m MELTING!!) with a disposition to match.

 

[system]

Ramir…my thoughts were the same…it’s a great order and when you do an order like this it is a big deal the first time, but I think everyone was going a bit overboard as far as it being possible.

Years ago we had an order for 300 pizzas (they were 14")

We worked all night 2 nights folding boxes, grating cheese (if I did it again I would buy shredded but we were naive at the time.)

We had 2 drops 1 hour apart.

We have a double stack deck oven. Man what an event it was. But we did it and the food was great.

I think when you have that many pizzas they keep themselves warm by the other pizzas.

Of course our delivery was to a prison (yes, to the prisoners) so we didn’t get any complaints but I felt good about what we delivered.

Would I do it again…Absolutely NOT. We were naive, discounted the pizzas and if I remember correctly we were up 2 straight days getting ready. (We also had something like 177 salads too) It was crazy, the pictures bring anxiety just looking.

And for anyone who grates their own cheese… We had a cook grating cheese on a Friday night and you know those cheese “turds” you get… well he thought it would be a smart idea to use his hand to smash them through the grater. A full dining room and a cook bleeding and running around freaking out cuz he shredded his hand. It was terrible.

We do orders for 100 pretty regularly to Purina Farms and they go smooth.

My best advice to you is take advantage of the unload time at the destination. If you take 50 pizzas in three loads it will give you a few extra minutes to cook while they are unloading and setting up.

 

[system]

It won’t take 17+ hours…

It will take him no more than 6 hours tops… that includes all the prep! It should take no more than 2 1/2 hours to bake 'em off.

I think he should go for it. He just needs to think it through and work out the logistics.

I have done orders this big several times. Although I had an oven that would kick out 150+ pies an hour.

We built our own custom oven. A hybrid oven that had a brick hearth but used a conveyor inspired chain drive system. This sucka was over 12 feet long and 6 feet wide.

 

[system]

Panel van? What?
Nooooo… wait wait wait. Just have a 2-3 drivers with pickup trucks or SUV’s. If you dont have enough tower bags use some clean blankets during transport.
Of course they will not be 100% quality.

NicksPizza:

RaymiR:

iam not trying to down grade anybody but I don’t think is that much of a big deal… sorry guys that’s how I feel… for us every year get 3 big orders like that, for the school, fire dept open house and police dept open house… the school gets 175 some years they have gotten close to 200 pizzas… all to be ready at the same time… what we do is we tell them in advance we’ll keep the pizza as hot as possible by stacking them on top of the oven… by the way we have 2 deck ovens and each can take 7 pizzas at once… people will understand that by getting that many pizzas at once the quality won’t be 100 percent but it will be 98 percent…

Well done!

How did you deliver those 175 to 200 pizzas all at one time at 98% original quality? That is the part of the ‘magic’ I could not figure out without a panel van or truck with a camper top. Too long a drive (more tyhan 15 minutes), and the heat would sap right out . . . . .I don’t have enough bags for that kinda load at once.

Also, how long did it take for you to get those orders done . . . assembly . . . baking time? Number of personnel? Your success could be a learning tool for this author.

 

[NicksPizza]

Shut your pie-hole!:

Panel van? What?
Nooooo… wait wait wait. Just have a 2-3 drivers with pickup trucks or SUV’s. If you dont have enough tower bags use some clean blankets during transport.
Of course they will not be 100% quality.

AHHH! But the question is in regards to maintaining 98% quality over 2 hours baking time oplus delivery for all the pies. Putting a bunch in a pickup truck bed for a 15 to 20 minutes drive would chill them right down . . . even with a blanket. BTW, I want to see you run that by your local Health Dept. . . . they’d have a cow even though it’s not food risky.

 

[Patriot_sPizza]

Tom L. mentioned in another post about using a “space blanket”…

perhaps a series of those might be of use…

I’d only do the order w/a conveyor tho, as that is the bulk of my pie experience…

I’ve used my “cooler” p/u and put sternos in it, making it one heck ofa holding oven tho…

 

[system]

Anonymous:

Ramir…my thoughts were the same…it’s a great order and when you do an order like this it is a big deal the first time, but I think everyone was going a bit overboard as far as it being possible.

Years ago we had an order for 300 pizzas (they were 14")

We worked all night 2 nights folding boxes, grating cheese (if I did it again I would buy shredded but we were naive at the time.)

We had 2 drops 1 hour apart.

We have a double stack deck oven. Man what an event it was. But we did it and the food was great.

I think when you have that many pizzas they keep themselves warm by the other pizzas.

Of course our delivery was to a prison (yes, to the prisoners) so we didn’t get any complaints but I felt good about what we delivered.

Would I do it again…Absolutely NOT. We were naive, discounted the pizzas and if I remember correctly we were up 2 straight days getting ready. (We also had something like 177 salads too) It was crazy, the pictures bring anxiety just looking.

And for anyone who grates their own cheese… We had a cook grating cheese on a Friday night and you know those cheese “turds” you get… well he thought it would be a smart idea to use his hand to smash them through the grater. A full dining room and a cook bleeding and running around freaking out cuz he shredded his hand. It was terrible.

We do orders for 100 pretty regularly to Purina Farms and they go smooth.

My best advice to you is take advantage of the unload time at the destination. If you take 50 pizzas in three loads it will give you a few extra minutes to cook while they are unloading and setting up.

we lucky when we get this orders every year because the places are 3 mins away, so like nick said driving 20 min with a whole bunch of pies on a pick up truck is not excatly what u want to do… but this person made a good point… when u cooking some many pizzas and stack them like I explained before, they keep themselves hot…

 

[system]

I WANT TO THANK EACH OF YOU FOR YOUR HELP.

The order is in August so we figured we would test some of the ideas mentioned and get a good plan together.

Well we will be testing alright - WE GOT A 70 pie order for this Sunday so we ARE EXCITED. This is our FIRST 70 Pie order.

JRock - we did some par baked crusts yesterday - and will be making a couple of pies to day to see what happens.

When stretching dough the night before (no par baking), how do you store the stretched dough? On the screen with parchment paper in between and then palstic wrap to prevent it from drying out?

Uncle Ralph

 

[Patriot_sPizza]

IMHBAO - DON"T stretch the night b4 - you’ll be unhappy w/the performance…

as a wholesaler, I would/(do) par-bake…but we’re set-up 2 do that…At CiCI’s, I was never satisified w/dought stretched the night b4…

if you HAD 2 stretch the night before, I would only stretch/flatten 70-80% and finish on the fly the next day…

best 2 layer & dust w/flour/cornmeal mixture & place pack into dough trays…

 

[system]

Okay guys

This past Sunday we had a 70 pie order.
We used the J-Rock Par Bake Theory

IT WAS PERFECT AND WENT EXTREMELY WELL.


Saturday night Par Baked 70 crusts (took 3 hours, with only one oven)
Sunday we sauced and cheesed and finished baking (2 hours) for all 70 pies.

THANKS A BUNCH J-Rock for the Par Bake formula.

WE ARE READY FOR THE 150 PIE order. BRING IT ON

Uncle Ralph