The Definitive Pizzeria Equipment Checklist
A crucial part of building your very own pizzeria is setting up your kitchen and dining room. It is necessary for your business to have the proper equipment and resources that can weather the pressures of daily use and attend to your customers' every need.
From the back of the house to the front, your equipment should cater to the specific processes and the unique demands of your menu and operation. To help you get started on your shopping, we put together a checklist of these important pieces of equipment, tools, and supplies.
Pizza Mixers To Make The Perfect Dough
Commercial pizza mixers are designed to produce a consistent supply of dough and other important ingredients for your pizzeria. With durable stainless steel construction, these mixers are built for efficient and proper mixing of bulk products.
They come standard with large mixing bowls and a selection of utensils and attachments to hold and knead bulks of ingredients all at once.
The size of your operation will determine the right unit for your business. Heavy-duty dough mixers will be perfect for restaurants that serve a pizza-heavy menu to hundreds of customers.
There are two types of mixers that you can choose from--spiral and planetary--each with unique advantages that we get into detail below. Depending on what ingredients you will be making and the demands of your daily operation, you might need just one or both.
Spiral Mixer
Spiral mixers are designed specifically to make dough. These units have lower revolutions per minute or RPM, which is what you want for your pizza crusts.
A spiral mixer has a bowl that rotates around the spinning spiral dough hook to knead portions of the dough for a period of time. This generates less friction and heat resulting in a more homogeneous mix.
While it can handle different types of dough, this type of mixer doesn’t have interchangeable attachments. Its single focus is dough production. With capacities larger than planetary mixers (up to 600 lbs), a spiral mixer is a suitable companion for a high-volume pizzeria in maintaining an abundant supply of high-quality dough.
Planetary Mixer
Pizzerias big and small will benefit from having a planetary mixer in their kitchen because of the versatility they can get in a single unit. Planetary mixers have a rotational movement the same way planets move around the sun, which inspired the nomenclature.
The attachment is detachable and can be replaced with a whip, paddle, slicer, grinder, or shredder. It can handle food prep tasks such as grating cheese, slicing veggies, mixing sauces, and grinding meat and more, making it a powerhouse of a unit. It can be used to produce toppings, salad dressings, icing, and even cookie dough batter.
It won’t be able to match the production output and quality of dough of the spiral mixer, but it can be enough for smaller pizzerias. Additionally, these establishments might find a better use of the planetary mixer mainly for the multiple uses they can get out of a single unit.
The Proper Oven To Bake The Ideal Pizza
You can’t have a pizzeria without commercial pizza ovens. The right oven will not only transform your assembled creation into a gastronomic experience for your customers but will also impact the pace and production of your operation.
The most common ovens used in pizzerias are deck ovens, conveyor ovens, and brick ovens. Your choice will all come down to the volume and speed you wish to operate and the kind of pizza you’ll be offering.
Conveyor ovens will cook faster than others. Brick and deck ovens will require a certain level of skill and technical knowledge of the cooking process on the operator’s part to achieve the perfect pizza every time.
Most of these units, while tailored to pizza cooking, add a lot of flexibility in the kitchen. They can be used to cook proteins, pastries, bread, and vegetables in addition to pizzas.
Conveyor Oven
Conveyor ovens minimize labor and cook relatively fast. This is what you want for quick-service and grab-and-go establishments with high production demand. Speed and temperatures can be set so operators can cook similar items at a faster rate with minimal monitoring.
Pizzas are placed on one side of a conveyor belt to be transported through the oven cavity where they will be surrounded by hot air with a finished product popping out the other side in just 4-5 minutes.
With a temperature range of 400 to 600 degrees Fahrenheit and fast cooking time, these units have a high hourly output. Conveyor ovens that employ air impingement for heating are even faster. The units force jets of hot pressurized air through the cold halo around the pizza or any other food item to cook it quickly.
Conveyor ovens are stackable so you can increase your output in the same cubic space. There are also split belts that come with multiple sizes so that you can cook different types of pizzas and other food products like sandwiches or fries at different speeds.
The open design of conveyor ovens, however, can immediately heat up the kitchen. There are ventless models as an alternative for locations with limited space, but your establishment should be up to code to use them. This design is also currently only found in smaller electric units with lower output. That said, it could be a great option for small-scale quick-service or delivery pizzerias.
Pizza Deck Oven
Pizza deck ovens are used for cooking the perfect gourmet pizza. They can produce the traditional thin crust pizza and can help you capture that classic authentic experience that customers will be willing to pay for.
Uncooked pizzas are placed on a preheated interior deck, which will transfer the heat to the crust and toppings, resulting in an evenly cooked product at just after 6-8 minutes. Deck ovens come in multiple cooking chambers with room for a minimum of three pizzas. They need to be preheated at least one hour and can heat up at 400 to 700 degrees Fahrenheit.
With longer preheating and cooking time, this oven type is unsuitable for fast-paced operations and rush hours. They are more labor-intensive as well because your staff members will need to monitor and manually rotate the pizza constantly. Some brands solve this problem by adding a rotating deck.
Even then, these units can be challenging to use to the untrained eye. Your operators must be trained or knowledgeable about the required cooking time and the temperature settings for each item to man this equipment and come out with the perfectly cooked pizza every time.
Depending on your utilities, pizza deck ovens can cook using either gas or electric. Gas units generally have burners at the bottom and tend to produce a more even cook while electric models have the benefit of top heating that can be great for broiling.
Some units have a glass viewing area so your chefs can quickly check on the pizzas with no hassle. Surrounds are also available to embellish the exterior for an enhanced front-of-the-house operation, which is closer to the presentation you can get from wood-fired brick ovens.
Brick/Dome Oven
Brick and dome ovens are very much like pizza deck ovens. The difference is that they only come with one cooking platform that’s large enough for up to 12 pizzas at a time. Preheat time is a little over an hour, but they can maintain high temperatures at up to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit and can produce perfectly cooked pies in 90 seconds.
These units can either be wood-fired or gas-fired. The wood-fired taste is literally what defines the definitive pizza experience. This type of brick oven has a vintage quality to it that can add a bit of drama and flair to the pizza cooking proceedings. The experience of watching the fire blaze and come in contact with the dough and ingredients to produce a smoky aroma is something that many customers will definitely appreciate.
This makes wood-fired brick ovens the more popular choice for upscale gourmet pizza restaurants looking to deliver the highest quality pie to the most discerning pizza connoisseurs. If you are a pizzeria that prides itself with craftsmanship as much as the food and service itself, brick ovens will help you look the part.
It will, however, involve a lot of work and would potentially be more difficult to operate. It is practically impossible for pizzerias located in the metropolitan to integrate one into their operation. And, since they will be in charge of firing it up, your staff should be highly trained and knowledgeable to operate this equipment.
Gas-fired brick ovens can ease that burden. These units can help you get an almost identical flavor to the wood-fired oven but with way less effort. Another great middle ground is a wood and gas combo where you can get the visual appeal and taste with minimal tending to.
High-Speed Oven
High-speed ovens aren’t necessarily tailor-made for pizza production, but they can do wonders on your output. They have much lower temperatures at just 400 degrees, but they only require 15 minutes of pre-heating and can come out with a good-looking pizza pie in just 5-6 minutes.
These units generally combine multiple heat transfer methods including microwave, convection, radiant heating, and air impingement to shorten the cooking time.
Depending on the heating technology, you can also use high-speed ovens for cooking fish, delicate desserts, lasagne, burritos, and steaks. They can also be used to reheat food cooked in advance. For pizzerias, high-speed ovens aren’t exactly the number one choice for baking their pizzas, but they can be used in conjunction with other ovens or cooking equipment.
Prep Tables To Assemble The Pizza
Pizza Prep Table
Commercial pizza preparation tables combine storage and prep area in one convenient location for a streamlined pizza assembly process. These units have a refrigerated top and bottom compartment.
Standard top pizza prep tables can accommodate 6 to 24 stainless steel ⅓-sized food pans with 6 to 8” depth are arranged generally in two rows. Mega top units typically have a larger pan storage capacity with two or three-row arrangements, making them perfect for pizzerias that offer a huge selection of toppings.
Pizza prep tables feature a wide cutting board kept close to the refrigerated pans so your chef can reach for the ingredients they need with little effort. The larger cutting board provides your staff with a spacious surface area to comfortably assemble all sizes of pizzas.
Solid insulated hoods are installed to cover the pans when not in use. Glass lids are also available for restaurants that serve made-to-order pizzas.
Refrigerated bases for these prep tables usually have a single section or up to four separate compartments. Doors, drawers, and a combination of each type are offered. Swing doors have adjustable shelving inside and are usually self-closing, but might require a bigger aisle space to open all the way, while drawers often have cavities tailored to fit food pans for easy swapping during refill time. Combo styles aim to make the most of the space available in the prep table and offer a degree of storage flexibility to operators.
Prep tables generally feature front-breathing ventilation so you can maximize your floor space without straining the refrigeration system. Some units have their compressors on the side, which will require appropriate clearance. Casters are typically standard for mobility.
Size and capacities for pizza prep tables vary. Determine the maximum volume of pizza for your operation as well as the kind of toppings you will offer to find the right configuration of pizza prep table for your pizzeria.
Dough Equipment To Store And Manage Dough Supply
Dough Box
Proofing your dough properly is a crucial step in perfecting the texture and taste of your pizza. Dough boxes help with this by providing a sanitary area to proof your dough and allow it to rise by helping achieve the right humidity it needs to ferment.
Dough boxes can accommodate multiple dough balls while dough pans are sized for one. These items come in different materials with fiberglass and plastic as the more popular and practical ones. Some pizzerias prefer to use sheet pans.
Lids help extend the freshness of the dough and make for easy storage while dollies and racks will allow you to transport large quantities around a busy kitchen. Dough scrapers are also a must to peel the dough off the surface and slice it.
Dough Docker
Also referred to as a rolling docker, a dough docker is a utensil that looks very much like a rolling pin with spikes. It features blunt tips that are run carefully over the dough to poke small holes and seal the top and bottom of the dough together. This is meant to control the bubbling of the dough. There are dough docking machines that can accelerate this process.
Proofing Cabinet
Constructed with either aluminum or stainless steel, a proofing cabinet is a warming chamber that provides a more controlled environment to manipulate and accelerate the fermentation of your dough. It allows operators to find the warm climate the dough needs to ferment the yeast and rise faster.
There are at least three interior configurations for proofing cabinets. Universal runners and fixed wire shelves can support full-size sheet pans, but the latter comes in one non-adjustable rack, tends to be shallower, and has limited clearance for dough fermentation. Lip load designs are specifically used for sheet pans and allow to make full use of the pan’s width.
Proofing cabinets can be insulated or non-insulated. Uninsulated units are cheaper but are less energy-efficient. The slightly higher price tag that comes with insulated units gives you a more cost-effective piece of equipment capable of preventing heat from escaping into the kitchen to maintain a cooler environment. They are also less of an injury hazard with a cool-to-the-touch exterior.
Proofing cabinets use a solid or glass door to conceal the dough. The former will offer better insulation, faster heat recovery times, and are generally the more energy-efficient choice. However, the enclosed design will encourage frequent opening and closing for monitoring, which could result in heat loss, a problem that a glass door unit, albeit less-insulated, doesn’t have.
Polycarbonate proofers are an option for pizzerias with limited budgets, but they are generally less durable and have the poorest insulation. Half-door configurations that access just the top or bottom interior are also available for more efficient heat retention.
Unloading and loading can either be done from the back (pass-through) or from the front (reach-in). Standard features of proofing cabinets include digital temperature control or a thermostat.
Dough Retarder
A dough retarder is a refrigerated unit that is used to slow the fermentation of pizza dough. It allows operators to prepare large batches of dough for use on a specific schedule but also gives them the chance to achieve more complex flavors in their dough. Retarders come in either single or double section. There are units that have both retarding and proofing capabilities as well.
Dough Divider and Rounder
A dough divider and rounder is a great way to optimize the process of making a dough. This machine can divide and round a large quantity of dough into a uniform shape, saving you tons of time and labor expenses. There are manual and automatic units that are usually the countertop size. Dough dividers also come as standalone machines.
Pizza Press or Dough Sheeter
A pizza press is a machine that flattens the dough evenly into a crust shape without having to stretch it by hand. The machine has a plate where the dough ball is placed. Manual units have a pull-down lever to flatten while automatic units get the job done at the push of a button. Units can use a cold or hot press depending on the type of crust you’re going for. The latter is great for thick crust or deep-dish pizzas while the former can produce a fried-bottom pizza crust.
Dough sheeters work a little differently. Here, the double has to be slightly pressed by operators for a flatter shape before running it between the rollers of the machine.
Efficient Refrigeration To Keep The Pizza Operation Fresh
Efficient refrigeration is essential in any food service operation. Refrigerators and freezers are used in the kitchen to manage your supply, prolong product shelf life, and avoid food waste. You can’t keep your ingredients longer than two hours in prep tables, so these units are an absolute must for long-term storage and preservation of the bulk of ingredients.
Refrigerators and freezers either have their compressors built-in or remote, which will affect its ventilation needs and its impact on your kitchen space and environment.
Walk-In Cooler and Freezer
Walk-in coolers and freezers are used as the central storage-the first stop for your ingredients before they are transferred to the standard reach-ins where your staff to easily retrieve them from. They are an efficient refrigerated solution for a large-scale pizzeria that gets huge deliveries of food supply regularly. Walk-ins can also comfortably store and chill beer kegs and barrels.
These units can be prefabricated or built into your kitchen. Built-in walk-ins are designed according to your pizzeria’s needs while prefabricated units come in set sizes that you can simply add to your kitchen and eventually alter as your pizzeria grows.
Freezers require higher horsepower than coolers and can maintain a temperature as low as -10 degrees Fahrenheit. Coolers usually don’t go lower than 35 degrees Fahrenheit.
Walk-ins can be located inside or outside your facility. For indoor units, your option is a self-contained refrigeration system. These models have the compressor either mounted to the side or the top. Your choice depends on your space and your kitchen environment. There are combi freezer and walker units that merge a refrigerator and cooler for restaurants with limited space.
Organization and customization are important when setting up walk-in units. Apart from the actual cooler or freezer itself, you will need to take into account proper shelving as well as dunnage racks.
Reach-In Refrigerator and Freezer
For smaller operations where space is at a premium, single or multi-door reach-in refrigerators and freezers will do the trick. For large-scale pizza restaurants, these units are often employed to store and keep ingredients from the walk-ins within arm’s reach set to be used up for a specific period of time.
Reach-ins usually come with easy-to-adjust wire shelving while the doors are either solid for better insulation or glass, which allows for product visibility as well as merchandising in front-of-the-house use. Half-door units split a single door into two separate sections to limit energy consumption and heat loss.
Compressors in reach-in refrigerators and freezers are typically located at the top or the bottom. You’re losing a bit of storage area to a bottom-mounted compressor, but it does pull in cold air closer to the ground, making it ideal for a hot kitchen with lower ceilings and inadequate overhead clearance. This design also raises the bottom shelf for no-stoop access.
In a top-mounted design, there’s generally more internal storage to be had. Since it operates at the hottest part of your kitchen, it recommended for pizzerias with colder prep environments.
Account for the maximum volume of orders in your operation and the largest size of pizza you have on the menu in determining the right size for your service.
More Specialized Equipment To Expand The Pizza Menu
Sandwich/Salad Preparation Refrigerator
Sandwich or salad preparation refrigerators provide a workstation for preparing deli items you have on offer. They are very similar to pizza prep tables except for the size of the cutting board and the food pans.
They have shallower cutting boards specifically designed for smaller menu items like sandwiches, salads, and burritos. The refrigerated top is typically configured for ⅙-sized pans, which accommodate smaller portions of ingredients. The base comes with a wide range of capacities with either a drawer or cabinet configuration to match your space and layout.
There are front-breathing models although some units have their compressors mounted on the rear, which means you need to account for some back clearance.
Pasta Cooker
Pasta cookers are great to have to add variety to your menu. These units come with a large water vat to boil large quantities of spaghetti and other pasta all at once. They can hold and heat water for quick cooking using either electric or gas.
For pizzerias looking to serve up a selection of pasta on a daily basis, large floor models will be perfect for the operation. For limited pasta offerings, countertop models are recommended. Some units come with more than one water vats to cook multiple products at the same time without the risk of flavor transfer.
Pasta cookers ease and reduce labor with special features like automatic basket lifters, electronic timer controls, and large drain valves.
Fryer
You can’t have a pizzeria without fried food items on the menu. Commercial fryers ensure you provide the tastiest and crispiest fried sides and appetizers that your ovens wouldn’t be able to give you. Commercial fryers are designed for a high output of French fries, onion rings, mozzarella sticks, chicken wings, and similar food items.
There are floor models that are designed to cater to larger demands and countertop models, which have much smaller capacities, for smaller kitchens or front-of-the-house cooking.
The size is based on the oil capacity in the vat. Some commercial fryers come in split tanks to avoid flavor transfer and contamination when cooking different ingredients.
Open pot commercial fryers offer a bigger frying surface and are perfect for fries. Tube type fryers use pipes inside the tank for more efficient cooking and overall better recovery time and faster turnaround time than open pot designs.
Fryers with dials for control will require routine monitoring. Some are made more intuitive and independent so that you can simply key in the settings and you’re good to go. These fryers will sound an alarm and automatically raise the basket when the food is ready.
Some commercial fryers also have self-cleaning features and more unique elements like an electrical-powered blower system or premix burner systems for greater energy efficiency.
Heated Displays To Showcase Your Creations
Heated Merchandiser
Heated merchandisers warm and display newly cooked pizzas and other food items. The combination of the glass design, lighting, and the delicious smell is designed to pull in diners on the way in or out. These units come in horizontal and vertical layouts at a variety of sizes.
For pizzerias, floor or countertop models with glass protection and up to two spacious layers where your chef can directly place their pizza creations fresh from the oven and other menu items like chicken wings, hotdogs, fries, pretzel will be an enticing and lucrative addition to the front of the house.
Heated food merchandisers keep the food hot enough so that you can serve it up immediately after diners place an order. Island-style heated merchandisers that sit at the center of your pizzeria are available for buffets. Pizzerias can also show off their delectable pizza creations at a countertop using all-welded food shields.
Heated merchandisers use different heating methods based on the type of food. Non-humidified versions, which don’t have an enclosure, are reserved for grab-and-go items like boxed pizzas or single slices. Humidified units are enclosed and can hold food items twice as long, making them perfectly suitable for unpackaged items.
Heated Cabinets To Conquer Rush Hours
Heated Cabinet
Also known as holding cabinets, heated cabinets are used behind the scenes to help you prepare for your busiest time of the day. You can place pizzas cooked in advance in these units so they are always in hot and ready-to-serve condition.
Heated cabinets have come in the same configuration as proofers. They are sometimes integrated into a proofer for a consolidated proofing and storage area that will help retain the quality and the taste of the pizza from the crust to the toppings after cooking.
Beverage Equipment To Keep Customers Refreshed
Hot, cold, and frozen beverage dispensers are essentials in a pizzeria. Drinks are an integral part of the pizza eating experience, making an extensive beverage program crucial to the success of your establishment.
Beverage Dispenser
Beverage dispensers hold and dispense a huge volume of coffee, chocolate, juices, sodas, cocktails, smoothies, and many more carbonated drinks.
For cold beverages, non-insulated dispensers with transparent hoppers are preferred so customers and servers can quickly identify the contents from behind the counter. The design also shows off the fun colors of the drinks that won’t fail to catch the eye of your customers. Some units are even decked with attention-grabbing graphics for merchandising.
While beer, soda, wine, and cocktail are favorites for pizza lovers, pizzerias are seeing a rise in popularity and demand for coffee as a pizza companion. Capture this market using hot beverage dispensers, which are insulated to maintain piping hot temperature for your coffee or chocolate in every order.
Dispensers have single or multiple dispensing capacities for quicker delivery, multiple options, and comfortable use for two or more people.
Ice Machine and Water Dispenser
Depending on the model, ice machines can produce 250 to 1,000 lbs of cube, nugget, or flake ice per day. In choosing the ice and water dispenser for your business, compute the maximum ice production for your daily operation but take into account a slight increase in demand for busier days.
Modular units are best suited for the busiest of restaurants with high production output. They are used with ice dispenser, storage bin, or soda dispenser. For smaller operations where space at a premium, undercounter ice makers can fit in a tinier space and can still produce about 350 lbs of clean ice daily. Countertop units can be used for full-service or self-service and can generate around 400 lbs of ice per day. Combination ice and water dispensers are also nice to have for customers who would prefer ice cold water as opposed to soda or juice.
Ice machines are either air-cooled, which can be cost-effective for pizzerias with enough space for it to breathe, or water-cooled, which will work better for those crunched for space or working with hotter ambient air temperatures. Keep in mind that the latter would incur additional water costs.
Some units are self-contained, which means the condenser is built into the machine, therefore taking up storage space. Remote-cooled units have a separate condensing unit usually installed on the establishment's roof so the unit won’t take too much room without losing functionality or compromising capacity. These models will perform better in hot environments and are quieter during operation. The downside is that they will be more expensive to install and more difficult to repair.
Beer Dispenser
Draft beer is served from a large container such as a keg. Beer dispensers can handle one type of beer to as much as 200 with beer taps as many as 12. Sometimes, they can be used for wine and cocktails as well.
Remote draw beer systems are great for high-volume beer demand. Beer travels up to 500 feet from a keg usually placed in a walk-in cooler all the way to the beer tower.
Direct draw beer systems are the more popular models that pack everything in one unit for a shorter beer travel. The keg is typically underneath the tap and CO2 is injected to push the beer up. With limited space for kegs, you might need to restock more frequently than you would in a remote model.
Complete Storage Supplies To Keep The Kitchen Organized
Storage Supplies
Efficient ingredient storage will help you accomplish three crucial tasks: 1) store toppings, dough, and other ingredients to retain the freshness, quality, and flavor, 2) reduce food waste, and 3) keep your kitchen and workstation organized. This way, you always serve up great-tasting pizzas that your customers will love and come back to.
This is a job for high-quality containers such as stainless steel and plastic food pans and food storage boxes and containers for ingredients and reserve supply. Drain trays and lids keep your food and your workspace and holding and storage equipment sanitary.
Vegetable crisper bins will ensure peppers, olives, onions, and other leafy greens for your menu items are crisp and fresh whenever you need them. Ingredient bins and bin pans are great for keeping dry goods safe from spills and contamination.
Preparation Supplies To Break Down Ingredients
With a bulk of ingredients on your hands, you will need the proper tools to break down these ingredients into smaller and more manageable portions so that you can immediately cook or fry them as needed. In choosing from a variety of sizes and configurations, the main considerations include the frequency it will be used and the volume you will work on in every session.
Food preparation supplies also help owners stay on top of their inventory and be well-equipped for the daily, weekly, or monthly demand.
Vegetable Processor
A vegetable processor is a specialty slicer with a variety of interchangeable discs to achieve a consistent size and shape for the vegetable toppings that you use for your pizzas. There are countertop and floor models available depending on your kitchen accommodation and operational needs. These processors can be versatile enough for dough, cheese, and bread crumbs.
Blender
A pizzeria will benefit from having a commercial blender on their prep station to create sauces and soups. High-volume blenders can blend no less than a full gallon.
Blenders that come with various speeds can add a lot of versatility to pizza restaurants with a more expansive menu. There are polycarbonate and clear plastic blenders, but for pizzerias that will be using it for red sauces, a stainless steel unit is preferred. If you use ready-made sauces for your pizza, then you might be better off with an immersion blender.
Cheese Grater
A cheese grater produces grated cheese to top off pizzas with very little time and labor on your part. There are floor models and countertop models that you can choose from depending on the available space in your kitchen and the production demand of your operation. The smaller units will sometimes have a smaller opening for the cheese so users might have to cut it up before grating.
French Fry Cutter
French fry cutters allow your staff to make quick work of slicing up large quantities of fries process into their most common shapes (straight, curly, spiral, wedge among many others), a task that would otherwise be more tedious using a knife.
Cheese Slicer and Cheese Cutter
Cheese slicers and cutters are used to break down cheese. Slicers produce thin and even slices for cheeses of varied hardiness while cutters work better for soft and sticky cheeses.
Meet Press
Manual meat pressing involves flattening individual pieces of meat such as chicken and ham into more manageable portions. This can be time-consuming when done by hand but meat presses simplify the task by allowing your staff to work on multiple meat slices at once.
Meat Slicer
Meat slicers are essential in a pizzeria kitchen to cut up and slice meats into smaller pieces. There are manual meat slicers and automatic meat slicers. The latter will keep this important process less physical and time-consuming and will assist your prep staff in producing a more uniform output at a faster rate than they would manually. For heavy-duty applications, meat slicers with larger blades and higher horsepower are preferred.
Salad Dryer/Spinner
Soggy salads can be unappetizing and prone to bacteria. Salad spinners and dryers avoid that by retaining the proper serving and texture of your salads. These kitchen wonders wash the greens and then get rid of the water by draining it or spinning it off. Salad spinners come with a crank while dryers usually employ a floor drain.
Pasta Machine
Pasta machines take on the process of making pasta sheets and strips. Automatic units reduce labor demand while their manual counterparts require staff members trained for the job to attend to the unit until the job is done. Some allow to swap out attachments for ravioli and other pasta shapes.
Wire Rack
Depending on the pizza you offer and your cooking method, a wire rack is usually the first destination of freshly cooked pizza to be cut. It is never absent in the traditional preparation for Detroit-style pizzas.
Smallwares To Accomplish Specific Cooking And Serving Tasks
These are the tools you will use every day to keep your pizzeria running. It’s one thing to prepare the pizza pie; it’s another to be able to serve it so that your customers will be able to enjoy every bite of it whether they are taking it home or dining in. A diner’s comfort and convenience are as essential to your pizzeria as a perfect menu.
Ladles are used to put sauce on the dough. Pizza dough screens, disks, and baking stones will help you achieve the crisp, perfect crust no matter what kind of pizza you’re making. Wax or parchment paper should also be handy for clean and safe food prep and baking. You need dial or digital portion scales to find the right serving for menu items like french fries and the right amount of ingredients for cooking especially for Neapolitan pizzas. Wooden boards will elevate the look of your freshly cooked Roman-style or gourmet pizza.
Pizza peels will, of course, be needed to retrieve the cooked pizzas from the oven. Pizza cutters cut up the freshly cooked pie into triangular or rectangular slices. Straw racks organize the straws for easy access. Pizza stones for a more traditional bake and pizza screens for excellent heat transfer can provide the best baking surface depending on your preference and menu items.
Serving Supplies
Serving trays and baskets are either plastic or stainless steel and are used to deliver your yummy creations to your hungry customers complete with sauce cups and cheese shakers to keep extra cheese on tap.
An efficient pizzeria also needs portion cups for sides or condiments and plastic cups with lids for dine-in or take-out orders. Take-out containers and bakery boxeswill be needed to ensure your customers could safely bring their food out. Disposable bags for easy carry of drinks and other food items should also be at the ready at your pizzeria. Delivery bags will keep the pizza safe and warm until it reaches your customer.
Napkin dispensers, straw organizers, and condiment holders and dispensers should be on your equipment checklist to keep everything organized for your customers to easily find and retrieve.
Pizza stands properly support and present the pizza on the customer table or on a countertop display. Pitchers hold enough cold water or refreshing drinks for everyone on the table with minimal refilling. Dedicated holders for your menu can help make the tables presentable as your customers prepare to order.
The back of the house should never be without breadboards and flatware organizers including utensils holders.
