Making Better Kid’s Meals

Posted on: 14 July 2016

Food trucks are on the rise in both popularity and variety -- with average spending per customer topping $12 and an initial cash outlay of only around $85,000, operating a food truck can be a way to break into one of the most profitable parts of the restaurant business without sinking your life savings into overhead costs. However, food trucks with a menu centered on pizza can face challenges other food truck owners don't have to deal with, from maintaining the temperature and humidity needed for a handmade crust to rise to perfection to providing customers with the utensils and condiments needed to make their experience complete without breaking the bank on disposable serving supplies. Read on to learn more about the equipment and supplies you'll need to make your mobile pizza restaurant a success.

Space-saving ovens

For a pizza crust to reach its full potential, it will need to be baked in a convection oven. These ovens permit air to circulate around the crust the entire time it is cooking, allowing the toppings to melt together without leaving the crust too bready (or worse, burnt to a crisp). However, convection ovens often take up more space than traditional ovens due to the extra circulation space required. Storefront restaurants can get by with allowing convection ovens to take up a sizeable portion of the floor plan, but as a food truck operator, you'll need ovens that maximize available space while allowing you to cook several pizzas quickly.

One such oven design mimics the brick ovens found in Tuscany while still allowing you to cook multiple pizzas at the same time. These ovens can be installed at one end of your food truck and will ventilate from the back, allowing you to maintain an air-conditioned cooking space without overloading your truck's battery or generator. You may be able to save money on a used or refurbished mobile pizza oven at a commercial truck auction, or could opt for a new model that should help pay for itself in efficiency costs over your first few years of operation.

Condiment and serving dishes

Although some types of cuisine can get away with serving customers on a single paper plate, quality pizza restaurants (mobile or stationary) should have a way for customers to transport their pizza or save it for later -- along with any cheese, pepper flakes, spices, or other toppings you'd like to offer. While there are a number of different low-cost plastic and styrofoam options on the market, you may be reluctant to generate that much waste with your small mobile restaurant. Purchasing disposable paper condiment cups and pizza-shaped serving boxes to provide to your customers can help keep your cuisine mobile without adding needless plastic or styrofoam waste to the landfills. These recycled paper serving dishes can be biodegradeable whether or not they're recycled, and you may even be able to have them custom-printed with your logo or business name.

Insulating bags

Another key find for your pizza truck is a set of insulating bags that will help you keep your freshly-baked pizzas ready to serve even after they've been removed from the oven. Quickly transferring a hot pizza from the oven to a lined bag can keep it warm for a long period of time while preventing your kitchen from immediately heating up. 

Your best bet for inexpensive insulating bags is to hit up a pizza restaurant that has chosen to close its doors and liquidate its contents. You'll often be able to purchase fixtures and supplies at a low cost from a restaurant that is going out of business, including other items that could be easily adapted for use in a food truck. 

For more help with getting the equipment and supplies that you need, contact a company like Louis Wohl & Sons Inc.