Mobile Oven in Action Commercial Pizza Ovens Discuss Mobile Oven in Action in the Pizza Oven Design and Installation forums; hello. I'm new here but not so new to making pizza. I am planning on building an oven in a ...

[kimemerson]

hello. I'm new here but not so new to making pizza. I am planning on building an oven in a bus, one of hose half school buses. I am already aware that a mobile oven has been done since Pompeii or so, but I still have a few questions.

Is there any worry of the vehicle's movement causing any damage to the oven? Are there any considerations I should know about that are different from an oven in the back yard? I want to build and not buy a pre-fab, but mostly because I want to build for its own sake. Any caveats against that? Does it make a difference?

And what's keeping you from doing festivals and the like? That's precisely what I mean to get into. Is it just the health dept. thing or the extra $$ because of the health dept. reg's?

I'm sure I'll have more questions as I learn more. Meanwhile thanks for all everyone has done so far. This stuff is great! Have a great '09, all. Mangiamo!

[jjerrier]

Here are a few pictures from an event I did in downtown Dallas last night. Our restaurant was named a top ten new restaurant by the Dallas Morning News and they had a reception/wine competition. We were invited to do our signature dish - so I rolled the oven out and we did about 50 pizzas in 90 minutes. It was a huge hit and a huge spectacle...a lot of heavyweight Dallas chefs were amazed at the oven. It was a ton of fun.

[ERASMO]

Looks Great!!

Thats a great prep table. Was that custom made??

[telehort]

Jay - that looks fantastic!

[jjerrier]

Custom prep table..by me! Stainless steel prep table from restaurant supply @ $200, SilverKing prep rail (thanks to suggestion from telehort!)@ $1000, and 18X60" slab marble @ $150. Works great...wheels in and out of the storage area of the oven..I can do 3 pizzas at a time.

[Billi]

Do you have pictures of you outdoor set up? I am trying to do an outdoor pizza cart that meets health inspections here in Maine. Please share any ideas....

[jjerrier]

I have a regular gig at a winery in Dallas called Times Ten Cellars - we do pizzas every Wed night there now. We did just over 100 pizzas in 3 hours on a Wed night...so pretty good. I will take pics of the set up and get them posted. The challenge with Health Depts is that they don't know what to make of the mobile ovens. Typically they won't give you an "annual permit" like a catering truck, but you can easily get "temporary food establishment permits". The biggest issues are: handwash station (can be a bucket and a cooler with a spigot), 3 compartment sink (3 buckets - wash, rinse, sanitize), and refrigeration (telehort's genius idea of the Silver King Prep Rail). That all seems to work with temp permits. They also seem to frown on coolers being used as storage. Keep in mind this is all at public venues where you are selling direct to the public. If you cater private events at private homes to invited guests, its more of a free for all.

[telehort]

Billi - I agree with Jay about the
"The biggest issues are: handwash station (can be a bucket and a cooler with a spigot), 3 compartment sink (3 buckets - wash, rinse, sanitize), and refrigeration"
I can tell you in our area we also need our prep area to be screened in. My 10x10 pop up has sidewalls all around with a small pass through flap that the pizzas get passed out so I can put them in the oven and then I have to pass them back in so they can be sold out the front of the 10x10. It is a bit weird, but one of those things the county wants. For us, coolers are ok for storage.

[jjerrier]

Some good coverage of the mobile oven in Dallas...starting to pick up some momentum!


D Magazine : Il Cane Rosso Puts Pizza on Wheels

5 inexpensive ways to make food and wine the focus of the party | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Cooking tips | Food | Dallas Morning News

Plus a pic of a couple of pies from last night...

[james]

Congratulations on the great press Jay. You definitely have earned it!

Those are very, very nice looking pizzas. Excellent.
James