Anyone Take the VPN Course in LA?

[BrickStoneOven]

I wanted to take the VPN class in Naples but honestly staying on this forum will teach you a lot more things then a 3 day course. Like others have said 3 days is nothing. You are hardly going to learn much because it will go by so fast. The only thing you will benefit from the class is making countless pizzas but you can do the same thing at home for free; minus ingredient costs. If the class was like 2-3 months or more; then that would be a different story. The cost of the class is not worth what you will learn in such a short time.

A lot of people on here started making pizza in their home ovens, Little Black Egg(LBE), Modded grills, ex. Once they learned more about dough management, work flow, and a hell of a lot of experimenting they moved on to a WFO and further enhanced their learning experience.

If I were you I would save my money for a WFO if you have the space. You'll be very glad you did.

[thinkisgood]

Dan,

There were only two of us in the class, so we were making 10 actual pizzas a day (when they were teaching out of the restaurant you would make a good amount more).  We also would shape dough and cook it, but not with toppings and that was like 30-40 per day.  We made mozzarella from curds.   We were taught all the basics and it was a good class.

If you go into it not having any knowledge, you'll learn $1,500 if you fully take advantage of it.  I had read a lot on these boards and watched a decent number of videos prior to going to the class, but didn't have hands on experience.  For me, the hands on experience and basic know how that Jose and Pepe have were worth the $1,500, as it saved me a lot of hassle and time, as the 15 hours of actual hands-on teaching they had, probably saved me 100 hours of figuring stuff out on my own and gives you the opportunity to use an actual WFO. 

Plus, if you're in LA, you can drop by anytime during their classes for some free pizza or even make a pie of your own (when we were making pies in the afternoon, people would just show up and you would make them pizza).

Justin
 

[jeffereynelson]

I wanted to take the VPN class in Naples but honestly staying on this forum will teach you a lot more things then a 3 day course. Like others have said 3 days is nothing. You are hardly going to learn much because it will go by so fast. The only thing you will benefit from the class is making countless pizzas but you can do the same thing at home for free; minus ingredient costs. If the class was like 2-3 months or more; then that would be a different story. The cost of the class is not worth what you will learn in such a short time.

A lot of people on here started making pizza in their home ovens, Little Black Egg(LBE), Modded grills, ex. Once they learned more about dough management, work flow, and a hell of a lot of experimenting they moved on to a WFO and further enhanced their learning experience.

If I were you I would save my money for a WFO if you have the space. You'll be very glad you did.

I haven't taken the course, and the closest I have come is that I have eaten at Antica Pizzeria, but it does seem like it would be impossible to do in 3 days at home what they teach you there. I think if I had the extra money it would be a great experience to see what I really think of the business. Then if I did love it and still want to start my own business I could spend the money on a SF and start spending hundreds of hours in front of the oven using the correct principles I had already learned. I think "feel" can never be replaced by videos or posts.

[BrickStoneOven]

I haven't taken the course, and the closest I have come is that I have eaten at Antica Pizzeria, but it does seem like it would be impossible to do in 3 days at home what they teach you there. I think if I had the extra money it would be a great experience to see what I really think of the business. Then if I did love it and still want to start my own business I could spend the money on a SF and start spending hundreds of hours in front of the oven using the correct principles I had already learned. I think "feel" can never be replaced by videos or posts.

Honestly 3 days isn't enough time for anything to sink in especially if they don't know anything or very little. But you can stay on here for a month(free) and learn way more than you will spending $1500 for 3 days. People come on here all the time and post their early attempts then post the pizzas they've made a month or two later and it's a night and day difference how much better they are. If you want experience your better off finding a job in a pizzeria part/full time but even then your not really going to learn anything except for how a restaurant flows. Unless you are really lucky your not going to start by making pizza or dough.

[andreguidon]

I think the Naples version is Better, its 5 days of 8 hour training + mozzarella caseificio and flour mill visit. and you could pay xtra for more days training in a pizzeria.