Pizza Food Truck-Trailer - electric

rjaquiss · April 04, 2021, 10:34:17 AM

Has anyone used a PizzaMaster in a truck or trailer (sorry if this is a stupid question)?

two77clash · July 07, 2022, 01:05:34 AM

Did you ever find an answer about this? I'm curious about PizzaMaster in my truck.

ira · July 09, 2022, 01:12:53 PM

The problem with electric is where do you get the power from? If you can plug it in at the destination, no problem, if you need a generator, see how big a one you need? Even for the smallest Pizzamaster, you'll probably want a 10Kw generator which might be doable if it's not to noisy or smelly. Maybe you can get away with less, but once you have a generator you'll want lights and music and who knows what else.

scott r · July 10, 2022, 08:03:52 AM

I have a food truck with a wood burning oven on it and with that I need a 10k generator. Thats just to power everything needed in addition to the oven to be compliant with health codes. Back when I was building the truck I looked into electric ovens and the generator would have needed to be so large that it would be cost prohibitive to run. Wood is the way to go for mobile unless your talking about a small scale hobby situation that doesnt need to make much money.

Andrew t · July 10, 2022, 03:53:36 PM

Quote from: scott r on July 10, 2022, 08:03:52 AM
I have a food truck with a wood burning oven on it and with that I need a 10k generator. Thats just to power everything needed in addition to the oven to be compliant with health codes. Back when I was building the truck I looked into electric ovens and the generator would have needed to be so large that it would be cost prohibitive to run. Wood is the way to go for mobile unless your talking about a small scale hobby situation that doesnt need to make much money.

Scott-
Curious why do you say wood is the way to go over propane? I'd love to hear more about your experiences.

Is it that wood fired style pizzas are more popular or the ovens are better suited to moblie?

Or is there another reason?

I've been doing pop-up vending and catering part time for a few years. I started with Blackstones, then a Edli planet WFO, now I'm using a modified Blodget 911P. I ended up converting the WFO to propane b/c dealing with the fire at the end of the event was a huge saftey concern and hassle. Maybe I need to explore options for how to move the oven/coals safely. I never really tried to overcome the issue; just switched to propane. I do miss the greater top heat control of ditect fire.

I'm starting to look at design ideas for the next ideration of my pizza wagon for next year. My current set up has the oven in the back of a pick-up with a tent for prep/dressing pies. I'm considering a smaller trailer set up.

I make larger size Roman Pala style and Sicilian/DSP hybrid so I run at 600-650 for a 4-5 minute bake on the Pala and 8-10 minute finish bake on the pans. I evolved into what I serve both out of love for the styles and noticing that 90%+ of the mobile folks do the same type of 10"ish semi-neo pies with varring degrees of quality. For me, serving a larger/sharable size at a higher price point for pop-up vending has worked well.

respecfully,
Andrew

theppgcowboy · July 11, 2022, 01:21:22 AM

Andrew, scott r is correct. Me, I do not do curbside. I only do events. My pizza palace is a WFO. Many venues have limited 220 and my operation does not need it, and believe me, I have seen major arguments for the receptacles no matter what the organizers tell you. Me I just plug into a couple of 110 outlets and I am good to go. Some have 30 amp RV outlets even better.
I just finished a powwow here in Montana, we served 795 pizzas over the weekend. There is something about a true Neapolitan pizza that attracts people, at least in my neck of the woods. No matter what, your product has to be top notch.
Removing coals is easy. I riveted an old 3 inch deep by about 18x24 inch pan to an old banjo peel. Slide it into the oven, then using your ash shovel, scoop the coals and ash into it. Then go outside and deposit the contents into a metal ash bucket. Put the lid on it, done. No ash dust inside.
Hope this helps.

scott r · July 11, 2022, 07:54:32 AM

Quote from: Andrew t on July 10, 2022, 03:53:36 PM
Scott-
Curious why do you say wood is the way to go over propane? I'd love to hear more about your experiences.

Is it that wood fired style pizzas are more popular or the ovens are better suited to moblie?

I started with a propane assisted WFO. The propane was nice for preheats, but it was expensive to fill and run. I have an especially large food truck and even with 2 of the largest tanks that will fit on a truck I was constantly filling them. Wood was more cost effective, easier to deal with, and frankly less frightening. I always pictured what would happen if we got into a major accident so I ended up removing the tanks from my truck. Having a really hot oven AND lots of propane on board scared me on a mobile setup, but I suppose 100% propane would be less scary since you are interested in lower temp bakes.

In the end, throwing a bunch of wood on the truck that was stored at my restaurant was easier than having to drive to find propane and I could restock the truck without having to move it for large multi day events. Another consideration for me that probably wouldn't effect you was that propane is not allowed in tunnels and there is a tunnel that saved us a lot of time that we wanted to use.

WFO's are not going to work for you at the bake times your looking for. They want to make a 1-3 minute pizza and If you are going to do decent volume you will need to find another solution. You will loose your floor at a 5 minute bake time rather fast and there will be no way to recover unless your sales significantly slow down. In this situation propane is probably your only option.

Something to consider, and why I think you see mostly Neapolitan or Neo Neapolitan pizza, is the ability to make money. You will run into situations where there will be huge lines of people at your truck that all want to eat at the same time.... weddings, large concerts etc. For those situations a 1-3 minute pizza is the secret to feeding large amounts of people quickly, and the way to cash in on what will be a huge financial and time commitment of running a successful mobile pizzeria.

Im not saying you cant make money selling slices or slower baked pizzas, but I would personally be worried about being held back. If I have an event and want or need to push my bake time to 1 minute I can do this. With pans that is definitely never going to be an option.

Andrew t · July 11, 2022, 11:23:45 PM

Cowboy and Scott-
thank you for the insight. It's helpful and Im grateful for the help.

Andrew

JWFPIZZZA · July 14, 2022, 10:14:47 PM

wood fired is def the way to go in the mobile game, I started out that way. but our B&M now is basically all done by pizzamaster, with another on the way. WFO is cool for the show. outside doing neos they are pretty much a shittier version of what you can get nowadays with all the advances in oven tech, wood is a heat source we aint smoking the pizza.