Oven selection is a critical decision for any store. If it is not made with a lot of thought it can become a continual problem. For example; an oven is not JUSY a means of baking a pizza. Different types of ovens will bake different types of pizzas differently (some better than others). If your concept pizza has a lot of vetgtable toppings on it an air impingement oven might be the way to go since the high velocity air flow in the oven will do a lot to help keep the pizza dry on top. If you are making a New York style pizza a good deck oven would be my first choice, but one of the newer air impingement ovens won’t disappoint you either, especially if you bake on a black anodized perforated disk, It heat in your shop is a major concern then an infra-red oven might be something to consider, but don’t go too heavy on the toppings. If you will be making a number of different size pizzas and/or have a wide product mix, you will be best served with a deck oven to start with. If cost is a main concern, you will probably find that the deck ovens are going to be the cheapest to buy. If you are looking at going into an upper end, classical store it is hard to beat one of the stone hearth ovens that will operate on both natural gas and wood. Af far as operational ease, any of the conveyor ovens are no brainers so lone as they are set-up correctly for YOUR product(s). Their main limitation is that they do not lend themselves to making a wide variety of different products (pizza, wings, pasta, breadsticks), all through a single oven might prove to be problematic but do be sure to look at the split conveyor ovens as they are somewhat more versatile and might allow you to get away with a single oven rather than two. If you want to look at a deck oven, I’ve recently had several opportunities to work with the Marsal deck ovens and I’ve been quite impressed with both cost and the fact that this is one deck oven where you really don’t need to rotate the pizzas in. As for new or refurbished, I’ve not had any issues with refurbished from reputable dealers. but I will add this again: If you are looking at getting an air impingement oven, make sure it will be properly configured for YOUR product mix (one size does not fit all in this case).
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
