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Switching to conveyor ovens

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heather906

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Does anybody happen to know if you need to get permits from the city or township that you are in to switch from brick ovens to conveyor ovens? (do to the holiday I haven’t been able to get through to somebody in my township).
Thank you!
 
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as long as your conveyors meet city/county code - I reckon they won’t, unless you have an exhaust hood w/make-up air…ovens like the MM 360 require that, while an electric oven, like my CTX won’t require
 
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Here in Manhattan, Kansas, even the CTX infrared oven requires a complete hood. Do yourself a big favor and check to make sure the new oven that you are contemplating fits under your existing hood, if not, find out what it will cost to get the hood modified and add this to the cost of the oven. You might also check with your utility company to make sure you have sufficient gas or the correct power supply for your new oven. We have found that just adding an approved wall plug for an electric oven can cost you as much as $500.00, and I’ve heard from some shops where they had to pay to run another (larger) line into the shop. Your first stop will be to check your local codes department (be sure to have the spec sheet on the oven in question in hand. This will provide you with all of the needed dimensions and utility requirements, after that, you might be home free, or you’ll need to make a call to your local contractor. One other thing, some of the conveyor ovens are rather large, make sure it will fit into your shop without needing to cut a hole into the wall which will be more $$$$.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
 
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My son and I were just having the discussion about switching from deck to conveyer and were wondering what the pros and cons were. Do you have to change your crust formula? Does the taste change? How many of you have changed from a conveyer to a deck?

Thanks for your input,

Russell
 
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A lot will depend upon the air impingement oven we’re talking about, as well as the type and formulation of pizza we’re making, but for the most part, you can make any pizza in an air impingement oven that you can in a deck oven, and with the new, heatrh bake disks from Lloyd Pans <www.lloydpans.com> you can even make a great New York style thin crust pizza in an air impingement oven that can’t be distinguished from one baked in a typical deck oven. That is saying a lot!
The main difference between the two ovens is that the air impingers have one or two bake times (depending upon if you have a single or split conveyor) and a single baking temperature.; Deck ovens, on the other hane also have a single temperature, but they have infinite baking time as YOU are ther one who decides when the pizza comes out of the oven. For this reason, deck ovens might be better suited to those operations where there are a lot of things (different thingd) going through the oven, where as the air impingers are superior if you need to have a lot of pizzas, all similarly sized, in as short a time as possible. Air impingers will out bake a deck oven with regard to pizzas per hour, but they do tend to be more dedicated so you might find that two air impingers are needed to replace that deck oven, but on the brighter side, those two impingers will provide a faster, more consistent bake, and if you have a lot of vegetable toppings, a drier topped pizza to boot. Here’s a neat approach, get the air impinger, but keep your old deck oven just to bake all the different stuff in, use the new impinger to bake the bulk of your pizzas in, probably al those medium and large size thin crusts.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
 
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Thank you for your responses…and I found out today that we do need a permit, because we have to put a 220 plug in, the previous owners never put one in, and as for the hood…i’m not sure about it, however it is a mm 360 split belt that we are getting, so hopefully it won’t be too much for the venting. We have 4 brick ovens (we only use 2 of them usually, for the business that we have been doing lately), so there are already to vents there.
And as for pros and cons of brick versus conveyor, after the night that I had tonight, I can not wait for those ovens to be gone, what a nightmare, huge catering order in the middle of a crazy rush and one employee that was a no show. A $400 hour with 2 employees , 1 driver and brick ovens with a catering order just do not mix, we would have turned on the other ovens but they are single burner and were as cold as could be)

Thanks again everyone 😃
 
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PLEASE b4 you commit 2 the MM360 - you will need an exhaust hood w/make-up air - I don’t believe you have one installed w/deck ovens…it will not be cheap - don’t pay your Fool’s Tax 2 early!!!
 
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I’m not exactly sure, but my husband does, he’s been in the business for 25 years, and has worked with the same conveyors that we are getting. However he went back in time getting this pizzeria that has the bricks, they are truely holding this pizzeria back, unfortunately in the area that we are in everybody is in a hurry and we have quite a bit of competition. We have a great product, but just don’t have the speed to accomodate everybody. The franchise owner has a company that he goes through for the ovens and they completely factory refurbished and they have a one year warranty, and he already has a guy that he uses lined up to do the hood with the make up air, all in all we got a really good deal ($8500 total, for the oven and the venting, and electric, plus they are giving us a $3000 trade in value for our 4 brick ovens that we have in there already). Does that sound like we are getting a decent deal? It does to me but I haven’t been in this business very long.
Thank you again 😃
 
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no make up air here and I’ve used gas impingment conveyors for over 10 years. Would also never consider pulling a permit to run a 220 volt outlet.
 
Are you getting a doublestack of ovens? The price seems cheap if so, but don’t go with just a single oven. All it takes is one motor to go down on a friday afternoon and you will be closed for the weekend.
 
hopefully you are indeed getting 2 MM 360’s, so if one does go down, you can still be in biz - in Fla, the Fire Marshall will shut you down if you are using gas & no make-up air - theory is burning gas may use all the Oxygen - plus, in Fla, gas conveyors need an Ansul, or fire ext. system - ck into that - but the price seems 2 good…
 
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Hello Heather,8500.00 is a very fair deal for the conveyer,hood,make up air and electric.I wouldn’t even look back.
Good luck,
Niccademo
 
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Patriot'sPizza:
  • in Fla, the Fire Marshall will shut you down if you are using gas & no make-up air - theory is burning gas may use all the Oxygen - plus, in Fla, gas conveyors need an Ansul, or fire ext. system - ck into that - but the price seems 2 good…
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In Georgia, we have fire marshal in every county, and codes & enforcement is different in each one. My fire marshall did not really even know what particulars to inspect for our grease hood to be code compliant :shock: Michgan is another state, and is worth checking with the local Fire Marshal to see if they have any particulars you need to follow. Actually, you can find out without getting on their radar by asking a licensed building contractor or a nearby restaurant that has a pizza oven.
 
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Must be the same way in Florida, I have no make up air and no ansul in hood. Was told when I was cooking raw wings through conveyor that I would need ansul. Changed to precooked and haven’t had a problem since.
 
Well unfortunately for the situation that we are in right now (father in law owns the business and we run it, and basically he is putting up the money for the ovens, since him and my husband have been fighting for about 8 months now about getting conveyor ovens original price that we got was 16,800 for a double stack and that was with out the gas line, electric and venting), we had to comprimise on one, however, since we have 4 ovens int there now, we may possilby keep on brick in there just incase that ever happens, and then when we increase business again then we will add the other one. I realize having 2 in there is what we need to do and my husband is still fighting with his dad about it, but his dad has never owned a business and is not willing to take the gamble to get the 2 ovens in there. It’s a very touchy situation, so we have to make do with what we can get for now. As for getting permits, i’m not worrying about them now, i’m going to let the contractors do that, I will leave it up to them to decide if they need to do that or not, so if they do and something goes wrong it will fall back on them not us.
 
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it sounds/seems like you’ve not done all your homework on this decision - just be prepared to pay your “Fool’sTax”.
 
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brick ovens are great–BUT—not for higher production

change out ovens on sat or sun the inspectors leave early on fri- so who would know -

same with 220 outlet I did it befor opening painted the conduit same as wall who knows how long it was there

after health dept made me move a sike 3 ft and had to have a plumber with permit screw em
 
its not a matter of doing the work “undercover” its when they realize you are in violation they take negative action - fire marshal may shut it down…in most states gas conveyors need make-up air - I’d hate 2 pay my “Fool’s Tax” @ this stage
 
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Hi Heather, I know some guys in Michigan. Where in the state are you at? Maybe I can put you in touch with them.
 
Just make sure that you have something spelled out in black and white in your contract that states that it will be the responsibility of your contractor to install everything in accordance with all applicable codes and that it will be their responsibility to obtain any/all necessary permits.
Otherwise, like Judge Judy might say, “you ain’t got nothin’ but a piece of paper”.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
 
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