Multiple pizza makers/busy nights. What's your method?

[AnnieK]

Hey Everyone-

This is an informal survey of sorts; I am curious, for those of you who operate high volume pizzerias with multiple pizza makers, does each Za maker work independently of each other (i.e. one person makes the pizza start to finish) or do you work assembly line style where one person might toss, one sauce, top etc.

Curious as to what others have found to be the most efficient method of managing work flow. We currently run 3 pizza makers on busy nights, each working independently of each other, but I am starting to wonder if possibly the assembly line style is more efficient as you can allow your staff to work in their strongest places on the line.

Our kitchen is not huge, but we could probably squeeze one more person on our line and end up with a system of 1-2 people stretching, the rest topping.

Love to hear your experience with this one and what you guys think is more efficient!

Thanks!

 

[Daddio]

We use the assembly line approach. There is one person that looks after the pizza to the point it has been sauced then passes it to the next person who puts on the meat toppings then on to the next for the veg toppings. The final step in the operation is to double check the pizza, add the cheese and move the bill to the cut table.

The one person per pizza method has caused more mistakes for me than the assembly line method. It also causes traffic jams when two people are reaching for the same topping. I found that playing leapfrog at the make table was just not effective use of manpower.

 

[pizzapiratespp]

Assembly line, but with rotation. People will move up and down the line depending how things are going. We will have as many as 20 people working inside at certain times on the weekend. 5 or 6 will be drivers that are constantly changing in and out so some rotation is a must.

 

[bodegahwy]

Assembly line. How many depends on how busy. We max out at five on the line… four really fast pizza makers that don’t have to get the phone or do sides like salads etc can fill the ovens, but only if they are really fast.

For us, I consider high volume to be over 60 pizzas per hour. With our product mix and bake profile, our ovens max out somewhere around 110-120 pizzas per hour which we have hit from time to time.

We need the dough person to be both fast and producing quality skins without thin centers. The last person on the line is who catches mistakes etc so that needs to be one of the more experienced crew members that really knows the menu. With those factors taken into account, we move people around during the shift to break things up.

 

[noreason]

How many pizzas are we talking about? Without a number it’s hard for me to grasp what “high volume” is

 

[paul7979]

We are also assembly line style. We don’t have the space to play leapfrog from one part of the makeline to another.

 

[jokergerm]

Assembly line for sure, last night we had 5 on the line and 1 on the wing salad station all night for the rush

 

[Patriot_sPizza]

We do some decent volume…sometimes a 100 pie/hr…

We’ve tried various approaches over the years, but what works best for us, is to have one dedicated to slapping out the skins…the manager runs the make line and directs the drivers to process the wings…

Our drivers also run the cut table…works 4 us…

 

[famousperry]

can’t see any high volume (100+pie hours) without using some hybrid of assembly line method. We do a pan pizza so during out peak time we have one guy that handles all dough & sauce, another just cheeses, 2 finishing toppings, 1 on oven, 1 cutting & boxing. Switching to conveyor next month so I can trim the oven guy

 

[Joe]

We do some decent volume…sometimes a 100 pie/hr…

We’ve tried various approaches over the years, but what works best for us, is to have one dedicated to slapping out the skins…the manager runs the make line and directs the drivers to process the wings…

Our drivers also run the cut table…works 4 us…

Only 3 people (skin guy, make line guy, and a driver cutting pies) for 100 pies/hr?

 

[bodegahwy]

In order to produce 100 pies an hour in our store along with the various apps, salads etc that go with that volume we need 3/phones, 4-5/line, 1/cut, manager/float, 6-7 drivers.

 

[Patriot_sPizza]

Joe…we run 7-11 drivers on some nights…60% of our orders come in online…our POS has grid/map coordinates to help route/sort orders…

We par-fry our wings, then sauce & run them thru the oven…

the skin guy has a rack or two of preformed skins, in various sizes, including bread stix…or knots are prewrapped in foil, to run thru the oven…& the sauce is warmed in a crock pot…

The skins rarely left on the rack for more than 15 minutes…

Rare instances, I may have a driver top pepperoni pizzas…

Most all of our drivers can make a decent skin and top any pie, and the do in slower times…

We’ve found that the drivers do a great job of organizing the runs & operating the cut table…who’da thunk?

 

[Piff]

We use the assembly line approach. There is one person that looks after the pizza to the point it has been sauced then passes it to the next person who puts on the meat toppings then on to the next for the veg toppings. The final step in the operation is to double check the pizza, add the cheese and move the bill to the cut table.

The one person per pizza method has caused more mistakes for me than the assembly line method. It also causes traffic jams when two people are reaching for the same topping. I found that playing leapfrog at the make table was just not effective use of manpower.

We use a similar approach. I’m considering doing 2 makelines with 2-3 people at each line on busy nights to speed up productivity

 

[AnnieK]

Hey, thanks you guys! I thought I had this thread marked to email me when posts came up…I wasn’t purposefully ignoring a reply! I was imagining that the assembly line was the chosen method, seems very much to be the case. We have a fairly small pizza line, and are probably in need of a kitchen expansion sometime soon. We can definitely fit 3 people back there though, with a fourth grabbing dough and toppings which is the way we have been running busy nights. I’m attempting to make the transition to the assembly option this spring!

Thanks for the replies!

 

[AnnieK]

Assembly line. How many depends on how busy. We max out at five on the line… four really fast pizza makers that don’t have to get the phone or do sides like salads etc can fill the ovens, but only if they are really fast.

For us, I consider high volume to be over 60 pizzas per hour. With our product mix and bake profile, our ovens max out somewhere around 110-120 pizzas per hour which we have hit from time to time.

We need the dough person to be both fast and producing quality skins without thin centers. The last person on the line is who catches mistakes etc so that needs to be one of the more experienced crew members that really knows the menu. With those factors taken into account, we move people around during the shift to break things up.

70 pizzas per hour is about what we top out at. Wow, 110-120…that’s a fair amount of pizza pie! I like the notion of having multiple eyes looking at one ticket and checking for mistakes. Since we currently tend to work independently, we definitely have several employees who either a; make more frequent mistakes when things get rushed, or b; throw their dough too thin as well. This approach would, I imagine, limit that considerably!

 

[pizzapiratespp]

We use a similar approach. I’m considering doing 2 makelines with 2-3 people at each line on busy nights to speed up productivity

We have gone to the double makelines in recent years. It certainly does help. I noticed an immediate improvement when the went in. It felt slower all of a sudden even though we were busier.