How to Choose The Right Pizza Equipment for National Pizza Month?

National Pizza Month is celebrated each October to honor the beloved pie. It traces its origins back to 1984 when President Reagan declared October "National Pizza Month" to recognize the Italian cultural influence on American cuisine. Now 40 years later, pizza remains one of the most popular takeout and delivery items.

As pizzerias gear up for increased orders this month, it's important to have the right commercial equipment in place. Here are some top considerations:

• Pizza Oven - For authentic results, consider a wood-fired or coal oven. But gas convection ovens like our CD-850 are also excellent, baking up to 85 pizzas per hour evenly. Factors like size, fuel type and features like timers/controls will vary your needs.
• Prep Tables - Look for durable stainless steel tables sized to your workspace with convenient accessories. Outfit areas for dough, sauce and toppings with ergonomic tables like our Super Prep Series.
• Dough Mixer - Knead dough efficiently with a planetary or spiral mixer. The DM-80 is ideal for most operations up to 80 lbs capacity. Consider batch sizes when choosing between stand or floor models.
• Sauce Dispenser - Automatic dispensers like the SauceBot save time and labor versus manual ladling. Opt for a dispenser with portion control and easy-clean parts.
• Toppings Bar - Modular and customizable bars keep toppings fresher. Sneeze guards are essential for food safety. Choose between counters, refrigerated or heated units.
• Slice Holding Cabinet - Store sliced pies under lights and adjustable shelves like in our HCC-24 to maintain quality until serving.

Buying The Right Commercial Pizza Oven

Pizza has become a traditional American dish. Food service facilities cannot remain competitive without pizza on the menu, so a commercial pizza oven is an absolute must-have.

Here are the main attributes of commercial pizza ovens:

• Gas vs. Electric:

Commercial pizza ovens have to be efficient, producing large quantities of pizza fast. They need plenty of energy to run. Buying a gas pizza oven may cost more upfront, but operating one is often less expensive. Gas-powered ovens allow greater heat control, ideal for pies with meat topping in particular. Electric pizza ovens can save you from gas hookups installation if you don't have gas lines. They are also safer to use than gas pizza ovens. The downside is you may have higher electricity bills, especially if you want a large-capacity oven.

• Indoor vs. Outdoor:

Indoor pizza ovens are much more common. Since they are the standard models, manufacturers offer more features and options. They are also more affordable. When buying an indoor commercial pizza oven, you need to consider your ventilation system. Outdoor pizza ovens are becoming a trendy alternative. An outdoor model might be beautiful for restaurants with an open dining area. Besides crispy pizzas, you can also cook gourmet burgers and grill meats in outdoor pizza ovens.

• Countertop vs. Floor Models:

You can choose a countertop commercial pizza oven or a floor model depending on the available space and cooking volumes. Countertop pizza ovens are inexpensive and compact, with minimum footprint. Some models do not require hood installation, perfect for snack bars, quick-serve restaurants, and concession stands. Floor models are free-standing pizza ovens designed for heavy-duty use. They can bake loads of pizza quickly, and some models feature casters for mobility.

Special Features Of Commercial Pizza Ovens

Commercial pizza ovens are available in various deck quantities. With up to 6-deck ovens, you can cook Veggie, Pepperoni, Hawaiian, and Buffalo pizza all at the same time. A commercial pizza oven with multiple decks would attract more pizza lovers. Other features like shape and deck construction are about the general appearance of your restaurant. A round pizza oven with brick construction would make your restaurant look sleek, inviting those who love authentic traditional settings.

Types of Commercial Pizza Ovens

1- Conveyor Pizza Ovens: Bake pizza by moving them through a heated chamber. The products on the conveyor belt travel through the oven at pre-adjusted speeds and temperatures. They are particularly suitable for busy facilities. They are also easy to use; put your pizzas on the conveyor belt, push a button, and let the oven do the rest. Conveyor pizza ovens are best for businesses demanding high-volume production.

2- Pizza Deck Type Ovens: Are unrivaled in durability; they can last decades without requiring costly repairs. Pizza deck ovens are also hassle-free to maintain. Pizzas on the hot stone decks are baked through radiant heat. It would be enough to clean burn marks on the stone decks and wipe down the exterior. These ovens are not very large but can cook enough pizzas to meet the need of midsize pizzerias.

3- Commercial Countertop Pizza Ovens: Are smaller ovens resting on a countertop. They are compact and produce fewer pizzas per hour. Still, they can have up to 4 decks. You can increase the cooking capacity by stacking several countertop pizza ovens on top of one another. They are space-efficient and budget-friendly, making them the top choice for smaller pizzerias and food trucks.

4- Commercial Wood & Gas Fired Pizza Ovens: Are powered with wood, gas, or coal, and the wood and gas-fueled hybrid models can be used both indoors and outdoors. The crispness and smokey texture reach superb levels with wood-fired pizza ovens. These ovens can remain hot for more extended periods compared to others.

Check out the wide selection of commercial pizza ovens at Chef's Deal from trusted names in the industry, AMPTO, Bakers Pride, Lincoln, Marsal, Omcan USA, Peerless, Sierra Range, Univex, Zesto, and many others. You may also want to see our other commercial ovens for your commercial kitchen needs.

?Click on the link to discover our pizza ovens!:

https://www.chefsdeal.com/cooking-equipment/commercial-ovens/commercial-pizza-ovens.html

Pizza Prep Tables: The Pizza Rush

Pizza prep tables are versatile commercial kitchen equipment that will streamline your pizza preparation, assembly, and service by creating a multi-functional pizza prep station. Pizza prep tables comprise a working top and a food compartment installed on cooler storage at the bottom. Therefore, these units, like the Beverage-Air pizza prep tables, are of great use for pizzerias, restaurants, and cafes by providing a secure storage place for pre-made pizza ingredients and a smooth surface to assemble your pizza.

Features of Pizza Prep Tables

Pizza prep tables are designed to offer convenience and workflow efficiency with smartly developed features.

• Refrigerated pizza prep tables are manufactured from stainless steel exterior to ensure durability and consistent work under frequent use under commercial conditions.
• These pizza preparation tables feature a separate section called the "Pan Rail" or "Food Rail", where you can place the pizza ingredients, condiments, cheese, and sauce to make the theme easily accessible.
• Food rails are placed slightly above the work surface and cooled with air circulating inside. These pan rails are covered with a lid to keep the interior chilled, and, in addition, in most models, this section can accommodate 6" food pans.
• Pizza refrigerators boast a large working counter with a removable cutting board, stainless steel, or granite tops.
• Pizza prep table coolers also have refrigerated storage under the counter.
• Pizza prep tables are tightly insulated and offer high energy efficiency to lower your running costs.

Advantages of Pizza Prep Tables

As a result of their well-thought designs and abovementioned features, pizza prep tables such as the True pizza prep tables bring remarkable advantages for your business:

• Pizza prep tables shorten the pizza assembly process by keeping everything necessary next to you on your working counter.
• These indoor and outdoor pizza prep tables provide additional cooled storage under the counter to keep you supplied with fresh ingredients, sauce, and toppings.
• Pizza prep stations allow you to chop and prepare the necessary ingredients as you easily use the cutting board on them.
• The chilled and closed food rail will ensure your ingredients and toppings will maintain their freshness for more extended periods.

Available Features for Pizza Prep Tables

As the profile and conditions of the pizza serving business are different, so do the features and styles of the pizza prep tables. Therefore, before deciding on the specific pizza prep table that you want to add to your inventory, you should carefully evaluate your available space, hourly pizza service volume, and necessary ingredient amount to find the most suitable one among the following features.

1. Work Surface of Pizza Prep Tables

Pizza prep tables are equipped with different worktops. Some models come with a plain stainless steel working top, while the granite pizza prep tables offer a granite countertop. You can also find pizza prep tables with epoxy cutting boards.

2. Access Type

Pizza prep tables also have undercounter refrigerators to put additional stocks of ingredients to keep them fresh. These refrigerators can be purchased with swinging doors or drawers, or both. The food rails also have lid options such as lift top and sliding.

3. Mount Type

The refrigeration systems of the pizza prep tables need to suck air from the outside to cool down the inside, just like other cooling units. Therefore, you should leave some space for the compressor to take enough air (about 5 inches from the walls and other equipment) and ensure that there is enough space on the floor.

So you carefully select the pizza prep table and the location of the compressor, which are installed as side or rear-mounted. Most of the units in our inventory are self-contained, side-mounted, and get their air intake from the front.

4. Capacity

The refrigerated pizza prep tables are available in different capacities ranging from 35" to 119" to meet your varying volume needs. Additionally, you can prefer 1 or 2-door pizza prep tables for a smaller amount of ingredient storage or opt to purchase a larger model like 3 door pizza prep table or 48 pizza prep table and a 60-inch pizza prep table for mid-volume needs. You can also find pizza prep table coolers with 9 drawers or 4 doors for the needs of high-traffic pizzerias and restaurants.

Chef's Deal offers a large inventory of top-notch and high-quality pizza prep tables, including the Atosa pizza prep tables, Delfield pizza prep tables, and Continental pizza prep tables. You may also want to see other refrigerated prep tables for your foodbusiness.

?Click on the link to discover our prep tables!:

https://www.chefsdeal.com/commercial-refrigeration/refrigerated-prep-table/pizza-prep-tables.html

Dough Mixers: The Spiral Taste

Dough mixers, referred to as spiral mixers, are indispensable commercial kitchen equipment for restaurants, pizzerias, delis, and bakeries that prepare a high amount of dough on a daily basis. Commercial Dough mixer machines feature a spiral-shaped agitator to knead the dough much quicker in a rotating bowl. They are mainly designed to knead and mix dough; thus, they will be of great use and benefit your business if you sell or serve pizza, bread, dinner rolls, or any other food product made of dough.

Features of Dough Mixers

Dough mixers are built to last and perform efficiently in a commercial setting to streamline your workflow. Hence, these pizzeria and bakery mixers are available as furnished with the following features:

• Industrial dough mixers are manufactured from stainless steel to offer resistance to commercial conditions and rigorous use. The hook, bowl, and housing are made of steel; commercial bread mixers can withstand frequent use.
• These bakery mixer machines, such as Eurodib dough mixers and Ampto spiral mixers, are furnished with enhanced safety precautions. The mixing bowl and the hook have a safety guard to prevent injuries. Moreover, the safety guard has space to enable the operator to add ingredients to the dough and pizza dough mix.
• Industrial dough mixers like the Univex dough mixers generally have 2 or 3 variable speeds to enable more control over the kneading process. The first speed is suitable for mixing the ingredients at the beginning, while the second speed is more appropriate for improving the dough's gluten structure.
• Dough mixing machines also present a programmable timer to switch between the speeds automatically.
• Many of these commercial dough mixers have reversible rotation options to increase dough's even and consistent mixing.
• Some heavy-duty dough mixers are equipped with hydraulic lifts that allow the operator to load and unload the batch without much effort. Additionally, you can find tilting or removable bowls as well.
• Commercial pizza dough mixers are available with capacities ranging from 20 qt. to 423 qt.

Planetary Mixers vs. Dough Mixers

Dough mixers and planetary mixers resemble each other in construction and appearance, but their mechanism, features, and use are different.

Dough mixers feature a moving bowl that rotates around a fixed spiral hook to mix and knead large batches of dough. Therefore, these commercial dough mixers are primarily suitable for dough mixing, and you cannot whisk or whip cream or batter. The Planetary mixers have a rotating hook that moves around a stationary bowl like the planets in orbit. Their hook can be changed with extra attachments and used both for dough kneading and cream whipping. However, planetary mixers are not suitable for handling large batches of dough.

Chef's Deal is a reliable restaurant supply store just near you with high-quality commercial kitchen equipment and efficient customer service. We carry commercial dough mixer machines to ensure your kitchen's effective and efficient workflow. You can find Doyon, American Eagle, and Globe dough mixers. You may also wish to see our other commercial mixers for your kitchen needs.

?Click on the link to discover our dough mixers!:

https://www.chefsdeal.com/restaurant-equipment/food-prep-equipment/dough-preparation-equipment/dough-mixers.html

Sauce Dispenser Guns and Cartridge Bottles

Sauce dispensers are tabletop smallwares for efficiently and cleanly dispensing various sauces, condiments, or liquid toppings. Restaurants, fast-food chains, cafeterias, snack bars, and sandwich shops buy condiment holders and dispensers to streamline the process of adding sauces to dishes. They typically consist of a gun and a cartridge bottle. They are more creative alternatives to the traditional soy sauce dispensers or sauce dispensers with a pump.

• The trigger mechanism in these sauce dispensers enhances controlled and precise dispensing. They dispense portions as small as 1/3 oz (9.45 gr).
• Place a cartridge bottle in the dispenser’s canister and pull the trigger to add sauce without spills and waste.
• The cartridge bottles are compatible with most gun-type sauce dispensers and have 1 to 3-valve dispensing caps.

Make condiment dispensing more playful with gun-shaped sauce dispensers at Chef’s Deal. Browse other condiment holders & dispensers in the smallware tabletops category to improve your meal service.

?Click on the link to discover our sauce dispensers!:

https://www.chefsdeal.com/smallware-tabletops/condiment-holders-dispensers/sauce-dispenser.html

Condiment, Topping & Sauce Warmers: Far Better Tastes

Sauce warmers are designed to provide an ideal way to keep sauces, fudge, toppings, and condiments that are needed to be served hot and warm. Your delicious recipes will present the zenith of taste to your customers only with suitable toppings and sauces. For instance, hot fudge will carry the joy of ice cream to the top level, while nachos are more delicious when dipped in melted cheese.

Condiment, topping, and sauce warmers are produced to present a secure and practical way of heating and warming these toppings in a heated well, which will otherwise burn when left on the burners or cool down when kept without a heat source. Hence, these hot topping dispensers can be used to ensure your gravy or butter is hot enough for immediate service or hot fudge to add a sweet final touch to a refreshing ice cream.

Features and Advantages of Sauce Warmers

Sauce warmers are configured to work at the highest efficiency in a commercial setting with their features that are developed to ensure the best condition of your toppings and hot sauces.

• They are made from durable materials to last in the rigorous conditions of commercial facilities. Their frames are generally made from stainless steel and designed to work quietly to minimize the noise that may disturb your guests.
• Sauce and hot fudge warmers allow precise control over the temperature through digital displays and thermostatic controls. Hence, you can maintain the optimum warmth of your condiments and toppings for the best customer experience.
• They have wells to place sauce bottles or the sauce itself.
• Hot fudge machines and topping warmers are available in different capacities, and you can find single-well units for low variety needs. Or, 3 to 4-well sauce warmer machines can be opted to present your wide variety of sauces at different temperature settings.
• Some hot sauce and hot fudge dispensers feature a lighted design to create an enticing spot to attract customers.

Available Options for Heated Display Cases

Condiment, topping, and sauce warmers are offered primarily in two models, which use either pumps for dispensing or ladles.

1. Sauce Warmer with Pump

They are built with stainless pumps to easily evacuate the topping inside. These topping and hot fudge warmers with pumps allow your customers to self-serve, and these units are mostly designed to portion the sauce.

2. Hot Sauce Dispenser with Ladles

These sauces, chocolate, hot fudge, and caramel come with traditional stainless ladles for quick service. These hot sauce dispensers will be a perfect choice if you serve thick texture sauce types.

Chef's Deal is a reliable restaurant supply store with a rich assortment of condiments, toppings, and sauce warmers from industry-leading vendors Winco, Omcan USA, Star, and more. You can also check out our other food display & merchandising equipment for your foodservice establishment.

?Click on the link to discover our Condiment, Topping & Sauce Warmer!:

https://www.chefsdeal.com/restaurant-equipment/food-display-merchandising/condiment-topping-sauce-warmers.html

Always Serve Oven-Fresh Pizza with Pizza Holding Cabinets

Pizza holding cabinets are food-holding and warming equipment designed to keep boxed or bagged pizzas at safe temperatures. They have a heated base with fixed or adjustable slides and wire shelves to accommodate pizza boxes or food pans. The stainless steel construction and commercial-duty door sealing enable it to hold the contents hot longer. Thus, you will always have oven-fresh pizza ready to serve, deliver, or pick up, even when pizza orders peak.

Points To Consider When Buying Pizza Holding Cabinets

Pizza holding cabinets are versatile equipment to meet your unique food service needs. They are perfect for self-serve, grab-and-go, pick-up delivery, or show-and-sell areas in concessions, delis, buffets, convenience stores, cafeterias, restaurants, or catered events. Pizza warmer cabinet models vary by size, capacity, door, and interior configuration.

• Size: Pizza hot holding cabinets' heights determine their sizes. The standard sizes are undercounter (up to 40"), half-height (around 40" to 55"), and full-height (usually over 60").
• Capacity: A pizza holding cabinet's capacity is generally the number of boxes it can hold, which may range from 4 to over thirty. A higher cabinet will have more slides or shelves and keep more boxes. However, depending on the pizza box size and spacing between the shelves, even undercounters can accommodate many boxes. For instance, the undercounter FWE TS-1633-28 Pizza Holding Cabinet can hold up to (28) 18-inch boxes at 3-inch slide centers.
• Doors: Solid doors ensure better sealing and heat retention, while glass doors provide product visibility. For example, FEW pizza holding cabinets allow operators to customize their door type. Solid doors are the standard, but you can prefer a see-thru door, too. Doorless models are also available. They are great for keeping to-go boxes and increasing speed. For instance, Carter-Hoffman pizza holding cabinets offer the advantages of a pass-thru model. You can connect the baking and serving stations.
• Interior Configuration: Hot pizza holding cabinets can feature fixed or adjustable slides. The adjustable racks make it possible to fit pans, trays, plates, and takeout boxes or bags of various sizes. Remember to check the center measurements, which refer to the space between slides.

Pizza-holding cabinets can prepare you for the heaviest customer rushes. Chef's Deal offers a large selection of models to give you the unit that suits your business type and foot traffic. You may need more food holding and proofing cabinets if you operate a bakery, patisserie, pizzeria, or a similar facility.

?Click on the link to discover our pizza holding cabinets!:

https://www.chefsdeal.com/restaurant-equipment/food-holding-warming-equipment/holding-cabinets/pizza-holding-cabinets.html

Conclusion

Determining the proper equipment setup for your pizzeria's needs can seem overwhelming with all the options on the market. Taking the time to realistically assess factors like volume requirements, budget, and space constraints will help narrow your choices for each component.

Consulting with experienced equipment suppliers is also highly recommended. At Chef's Deal, our team of experts can walk through the specifics of your operation and recommend optimized solutions. We understand every pizzeria has unique goals and will work with you to design a custom layout.

Don't forget to consider future growth plans when sizing equipment too. Investing in high-quality, commercial-grade products now will save money long-term versus outgrowing smaller appliances down the road.

Proper preparation is key to thriving throughout National Pizza Month and beyond. With the right equipment partners, you'll be sure to serve customers with efficiency, consistency and quality they demand each and every time. Let Chef's Deal be your one-stop shop to take your pizzeria to new heights this October!

I hope this educational guide provides helpful tips for choosing top-performing pizza equipment. Please feel free to contact me directly if you have any other questions.

Running a kitchen is your job, keeping it running is ours!