Market Wood Fired Ovens

[conic]

Hello Everybody,

Where does one go to see a wood fired oven in action at a market or carboot sale or even at the side of the road, does anybody know of any because it would be good to sample their wares and compare notes..

Conic

[DuncanM]

Terry (Cannyfradock) has one I believe - not too sure of his location though.

[webbaldo]

Ive seriously considered thinking about this, but I can see the market pick up quickly and soon saturate as the start up costs are pretty low compared to others. (Ie. you dont need a massive burger van or lpg hobs. bain maries etc) Just a trailer, food and oven/wood. Maybe some chiller equipment

[Paul]

I did see a guy with a clay oven selling pizza at the Ludlow Food Festival in 2010. I think he had his wife and 2 teenage children with him and they had a production line going. IIRC there was nothing exciting in his toppings but he still had a fair amount of traffic.

I also saw a modular WFO at the Weyfest Festival last September. It didn't seem to be as popular as some of the other food outlets.

IMHO the difference between the two was the smell of woodsmoke - the clay oven had a wonderful smell of woodsmoke which I believe attrated customers but the modular oven had virtually no smell.

Jamie Oliver has built a WFO on his Cock in Cider britishstreetfood.co.uk/2012/02/the-cock-in-cider/

[cannyfradock]

Conic

I know of half a dozen operating up and down the UK. If you could give a general location of your part of the world.....I'll see if there are any in your area.

Terry

p.s.....welcome to the forum

[conic]

I am near Birmingham but travel around a bit

Conic

[cannyfradock]

Conic

I believe "loaf online".. www.loafonline.co.uk/ are based in Birmingham and run...or are involved with "pop-up pizza's".....a travelling WFO around the Birmingham area.

There are others dotted about the UK.....here's some

Welsh borders...."Earth ovens"
London..............."Boscoe and Bee"
Somerset............ Van Dough
West Somerset.... Thierry Berchot
Leeds/Bradford.... Pizza Pod
Derby................... Maximes pizza's..(member)Pizza Artisan
Oxford..................Pizza Artisan

More info on WFO mobile vending can be obtained from www.ncass.org.uk .....but......and it's a big but. It is more difficult than a burger van as limited space and refrigeration and dough management.....along with all the criteria which your own local authority impose on you (and check) is very difficult to carry out. Unless you are totally committed to the project......it won't work.

However...if anybody is interested in setting up their own mobile WFO business then Jay Emery of www.dingley-dell.com will supply a free complete business package....along with the sale of his Mobile WFO......(I am not on commission....just believe his deal is a good package)

I'm not sure which direction you are taking Conic, but there's a little food for thought in my post.

Terry

[conic]

Thanks Terry, this info is great. I have a big homebuilt oven for some years now and just wanted to try others around the country. the reviews on some of these are great though.

The best one outside of Naples I had is at Franco Manca in london who sell wood fired sourdough and it is the best.

I was in naples a couple of years ago and went for a pizza and an american navy ship in the port ordered 250 pizzas, it took several jouneys in the little three wheeler truck..

thanks again for the info

Conic

[pizzaofdreams]

Webbaldo, it is not quite as simple or as low cost as you would think. I haven't been on for a while as it has just been manic getting everything set up. Once you get everything together the cost is not much different to a catering trailer. The biggest thing that will kill you though is the rents. The cost of setting up pales into insignificance when compared to the cost of funding your first year of trading. All events charge a rent and it has to be paid up front before you make a penny. So all the risk is taken by you up front, and we are talking hundreds and thousands for a single event. The rewards can, of course be good, but if the sun don't shine you are generally buggered. The requirements of the Environmental Health Officers are the same as for any food outlet, you have to have all the same temperature control equipment etc.
But it is great when your customers come back over to tell you that your food was fantastic and often the best they have tasted! I bet the old catering van boys don't hear that too often
We'll be at the craft and country fair a Keddleston Hall this weekend if Conic wanted to see it in action and try a complementary wf pizza. just give me your codeword (conic) ;D

[rivergirl]

we have them around here, they hit a different village every night and always have big queues !!!

[webbaldo]

Apr 18, 2012 16:45:58 GMT pizzaofdreams said:

Webbaldo, it is not quite as simple or as low cost as you would think. I haven't been on for a while as it has just been manic getting everything set up. Once you get everything together the cost is not much different to a catering trailer. The biggest thing that will kill you though is the rents. The cost of setting up pales into insignificance when compared to the cost of funding your first year of trading. All events charge a rent and it has to be paid up front before you make a penny. So all the risk is taken by you up front, and we are talking hundreds and thousands for a single event. The rewards can, of course be good, but if the sun don't shine you are generally buggered. The requirements of the Environmental Health Officers are the same as for any food outlet, you have to have all the same temperature control equipment etc.
But it is great when your customers come back over to tell you that your food was fantastic and often the best they have tasted! I bet the old catering van boys don't hear that too often
We'll be at the craft and country fair a Keddleston Hall this weekend if Conic wanted to see it in action and try a complementary wf pizza. just give me your codeword (conic) ;D

Since writing that post i kinda realised it would be alot more, especially with all the legal/enviro side

[littlebritaly]

Hi, I take on board what some people have advised and disagree with some comments.

I've been in the mobile food business for many years and would never ever fit a wfo inside a "catering unit", it is a very bad idea.

Modern units are built from a material called "GRP", this is basically wood with a plastic coating, when smoke from your oven gets on this, it is virtually impossible to clean. No matter how much extraction you fit (electricity required) you will always have wood smoke on your walls and roof, virtually all mobile units are white.

To get started all you need is a small oven, a stand, some cooler boxes, wood, utensils, that's it. You could probably get started for under £1500, pushing it maybe under a grand.

My ovens are on either a stand or a small open top trailer, I just cover with a tarp when travelling, or put the oven in the back of my van.

Don't worry about the Environmental Health, they are not as bad as some people claim, will give loads of advice and help, I've always found the pleasant and helpful, maybe it's because I always greet them politely, smile and never argue with them.

Registering is easy (phone your local office, tell them what you are doing, they will come out, inspect and will register you. You need hand washing facilities, a separate place to wash utensils etc, refrigeration (these can be cooler boxes, some keep cold for over 24 hours) and sound working practices, most of it is common sense.

The hardest part ?, planning how much dough to prepare, it's terrible when you run out and still have a queue, even worse when you've prepared lots and nobody buys (yep, that happens).

Most people don't want Pizza for breakfast, we cook bacon, sausages etc on a morning, little olive oil in a strong frying pan, front of the oven.......hmmmmmmmmmmm.

We're out and about most weekends as from this week (weddings, markets, events etc), I'm careful as not to promote my business on the forum, so if you would like to know my regular market, or some of the events I'll be attending, drop me a private message and I'll write back.

I'll message the administrator to see if it's acceptable to place this info here.

[greatbritishpizza]

Hi there,
We're Great British Pizza and we're based on Margate's Harbour Arm. We're cooking lunch from Wednesday to Sunday and dinner Wednesday to Saturday. Wood-fired pizza from our Bernito pizza oven using dough made to our sourdough-ish recipe, homemade tomato sauce and seasonal toppings. Come and see us in action!
www.greatbritishpizza.com

[cannyfradock]

Hey....Greatbritishpizza........welcome aboard.

...I've been following you a long time. Please create your own thread (mobile pizza ovens?) and post some pics and venues of your set up.

....I know you have some great pics of your operations.....please share them with us.

Terry

littlebritaly......please PM me.

[laura123]

Hey y'all

In case you wanted to know these bunch of guys (Scozzese Wood Fired Pizza) seem to be doing an awesome job of catering with a mobile wfo (by us, The Stone Bake Oven Company) may give you some tips and ideas on what you can do? This is their facebook page www.facebook.com/ScozzesePizza they are friendly bunch, and judging by the facebook feedback, are doing pretty well for themselves.

Note they are prepping in a gazebo, so they can increase or decrease the size of the operation.

Hope this was helpful.