Despite the not exactly favorable economic period and the distrust of the current internal market, there are not a few companies that are born every year in the various sectors. Starting a business of any kind in our country requires a considerable amount of patience because the times and bureaucratic procedures risk being truly infinite, but if the idea is good and the project is thought out in the smallest details, then it is absolutely legitimate to commit thoroughly despite the critical issues that come mainly from the outside.

The same thing happens in catering: pizzeria, fast food, classic restaurant, pizza by the slice, etc., each of these individual realities must be subject to precise regulations to enter the market. The purely bureaucratic part does not sell, however, it only serves to obtain the various permits and to operate in full legality. What is needed to run an activity are a room, the necessary furniture, machinery and equipment of various kinds, to end up with the human part, or the staff.

It is on these factors that the success or otherwise of a place depends, together with a good organization of the individual parts. In a pizzeria in particular, what makes the difference travels together with the fast and professional service, the quality ingredients and what helps the pizza chef to make the latter a final and tasty product: the equipment, the so-called “tools of the trade”.

When it comes to equipment for pizzerias, the discussion is broader than shovels, spatulas or rolling pins, because it also and above all concerns the oven, the mixer, any pizza-rolling machine and all those tools and machinery that are indispensable or even just useful for the job. of those who offer pizza to patrons every day.

• Pizzeria equipment: what you need and what can change according to the type of place
• There is no pizzeria without an oven
• A mixer is forever (and you can’t do without it in a pizzeria)
• Pizza roller or hands? The advantages of the first against the disadvantages of the second
• A “world” of utensils and tools for handling pizza

Let’s go.

Pizzeria equipment: what you need and what can change according to the type of place

Letting a new driver drive a Ferrari involves risks for the car itself (and probably the owner’s wallet) which mainly refer to the inexperience and probable inexperience of the young driver. The latter, in fact, unless he has a natural talent or the surname Schumacher, will hardly be able to survive unscathed from the tour (tourist and / or competitive) or will be able to fully exploit the power of the engine.

The same dynamic corresponds to the pizzeria: it is possible to provide all the latest generation technological knowledge, the most efficient machinery and even supernumerary personnel, but if the pizza chef does not know how to do it (he lacks technique, experience or both), then the the final result will still be mediocre if not bad. The other side of the coin instead places the pizzeria equipment as an instrumental for those who prepare pizzas, as it allows to significantly improve the processing and the product itself.

The pizza chef therefore knows how to prepare the dough, choose the ingredients, juggle the mixer and the oven, but the right machinery and tools are able to optimize the operations. In any case, there may be more or less marked differences based on the type of place being run: it is a fact that restaurants-pizzerias and pizzerias by the slice have (more or less) different equipment as the product is also different. For example, the former do not make use of baking trays like the latter.

The first indispensable machine can only be the professional oven (wood, gas or electric, even in the tunnel version), then certainly the mixer (spiral, fork, planetary), followed with less importance by the pizza dough roller, professional slicers, refrigerated counters for ingredients, leavening drawers and all the necessary utensils, from shovels to pizza cutters just to name a few. The dimensions of ovens and mixers will change according to the size of the room (and therefore to the “size” of customer demand) and the type of product offered, as well as the functional furnishings: counters for dough processing and preparation of ingredients, capacious fridge, blast chillers, etc.

There is no pizzeria without an oven

The oven is the pizzeria equipment par excellence, without it you can not do anything. The choice, regardless of the type of proposal (as always, restaurant or by the slice), brings a dilemma and a question that often leads pizza chefs to confront themselves even in a lit way: wood, gas or electric.

Many prefer the classic wood-burning model more for a vague sense of tradition than for reasons of convenience: in fact, this oven presents many costs for its construction (adaptation to environmental standards for the flue and the like), maintenance and cleaning of the same, purchase of wood, management of temperature and fire during service. The scent and flavor that wood would offer compared to more functional gas or electric ovens fails to tip the scales decisively in its favor in the face of these numerous anti-economic problems. All the more so since the quality of cooking offered by the most modern electric and gas models manages to equalize, and even surpass, without problems those with wood, offering greater uniformity.

• For its part, the professional electric oven offers numerous obvious advantages: speed in reaching high temperatures, stationary management of perfect temperatures, extremely low maintenance (as there are no combustion residues) and ease of use. The heat is generated by the resistances and this allows for different temperatures between the base and the top, allowing you to customize the cooking and control the humidity
• The gas model has similar maintenance needs to the wood-burning ones, as the combustion and its residues must be cleaned often so as not to affect the functioning and quality of the pizza, but it offers ease of use and rapid chievement of high temperatures like the brothers electrical. The heat is generated by combustion thanks to a burner in the lower part and is then distributed by convention throughout the entire cooking chamber.

Regardless of the different way of “forming” the heat, the oven must be chosen with great attention, trying to understand what the needs of one’s pizzeria are, without possibly skimping on the price given its importance. At the same time, looking for a model that allows optimal, simple management, and capable of containing management costs, as well as being as quick as possible to get the pizzas out in the event of a large influx.

A mixer is forever (and you can’t do without it in a pizzeria)

The dough represents the fundamental basis of every pizza and its processing is second only to cooking. If we talk about equipment for pizzerias, we understand well the importance of the mixer and its ability to improve the softness and digestibility of the pizza. It is a machine almost as important as the oven, in fact kneading by hand would be definitely too uneconomical.

On the purely professional market there are two types to consider, the spiral and the fork, with strengths and weaknesses for both processes (the planetary one is not very suitable):

• The spiral pattern generally offers better stringing and is better suited to different types of doughs
• The fork model offers better oxygenation and guarantees better softness

Pizza roller or hands? The advantages of the first against the disadvantages of the second

Among the most decisive machines when trying to increase the production of pizzas to face moments of great influx at the restaurant, the pizza rolling machine is a technical aid that is becoming increasingly popular. There is also a traditionalist fringe on the use of this pizzeria equipment that goes against it, thinking that the real pizza must be rolled out only by hand. But the operational advantages it offers are truly remarkable and allows you to face evenings in which the demand is very large with less anxiety and pressure.

It offers precision and almost immediate “ironing”, thus allowing you to immediately insert the ingredients before baking, avoids the effort and workmanship by hand and can be used without problems even by those who are inexperienced.

A “world” of utensils and tools for handling pizza

Exhausted as much as possible the main machinery with which a pizza chef must or may have to do in the management of his work, there is a “small world” of tools that are an important part of the pizzeria equipment as they allow to handle the product in an appropriate and safe manner. Here are the main ones:

• Shovels and stirrers (strictly in aluminum according to hygiene standards) for example are the extension of the pizza chef’s arm. Available in different sizes and shapes, they allow you to bake freshly prepared pizza and take it out once cooked to perfection
• The palino is a sort of undersized paddle, useful for turning and checking the pizza inside the oven and for dropping the flour stuck to the base thanks to the special holes
• The spatula is used to take the leavened dough balls and to start processing them on the counter, it also helps not to waste dough and flour
• Finally, the brushes are the indispensable element for cleaning. Fundamental especially for wood or gas ovens