30% of Americans eat pizza at least once a week, and it’s easy to see why! Pizza is a delicious meal for one, a large group, dine-in, carryout, or delivery. With a stellar crust recipe, pizzas can be topped with various sauces and toppings to satisfy any palate. With various pizza ovens on the market, choosing the right one for your convenience store, restaurant, or brewery can feel daunting. Different commercial pizza ovens have many pros and cons, some better suited for different kitchens and uses than others. Let’s take a look at some of the most popular options:

Brick Ovens

Wood or coal-fired ovens date back hundreds of years and are often what people think of first when they hear pizza. These ovens are dome-shaped, usually quite large, and frequently built onsite. Requiring coal or wood to operate these ovens can be expensive. As the name implies, these ovens are comprised of brick or stone and can get up to 900° Fahrenheit. Because these ovens can reach such a high temperature, they can cook a pizza in as little as two to three minutes. As pizza cooks quickly, it requires a high level of skill to operate, as the pizza requires someone to rotate it manually throughout the cooking time.

Deck Ovens

These heavy-duty commercial ovens are commonly found in traditional pizzerias; deck ovens work similarly to brick ovens; except they operate on gas or electricity. Some models are stackable up to six oven decks and can reach a high temperature more quickly and keep a steady temperature compared to brick ovens. While these ovens are easier to operate and maintain than brick ovens, they take up a lot of space and require a ventilation hood. They are an excellent option for restaurants that cook high volumes of pizzas.

Conveyor Ovens

A commercial conveyor oven uses a conveyor belt to move a pizza through the oven from one end to the other. These simple, smart ovens are perfect for operators looking for a high-throughput oven. While a conveyor oven is programmable, the simple design and operation mean it can cook the same product with the same results every time. As a result, swapping between crispy, thin-crust pizzas, and chewy hand-tossed pizzas with the same results will be more challenging.

An Ovention conveyor is a compact countertop unit that offers superior cooking control with a split belt option and independent top and bottom blowers. Precision Impingement technology uses hot air for a fast, consistent cook, and it can cook up to thirty-five 14” pizzas an hour.

A More Versatile Oven

While all of these ovens have pros and cons, they are also designed for operators focused on only pizza. These ovens are large and require costly ventilation systems. Operators such as breweries, c-stores, and cafes may not have the space or staff capacity to handle a large-scale commercial kitchen setup. An oven like the Matchbox or MiLO could be the perfect fit for those considering adding a pizza program to their business.

The Matchbox is available in two sizes and can cook up to twenty 12” pizzas an hour. This oven is not limited to only pizzas but can cook up various other menu items like tater tots, soft pretzels, wings, and sandwiches. The patented Auto-Load and Unload technology allows operators to stage and cook two completely different menu items back-to-back without a close watchful eye. Staff can quickly prepare an order of wings, stage a pizza to enter the cooking chamber once the wings have completed their cooking cycle, and go back to pouring beers without worrying about burnt food.

Those with even more limited space may find the MiLO to be an ideal option. This oven has a small footprint but is available with a single, double, or triple cooking cavity. The multi-cavity oven allows users to cook up to seventeen 14-inch pizzas an hour while simultaneously cooking different menu items at different temperatures.

Those with even more limited space may find the MiLO to be an ideal option. This oven has a small footprint but is available with a single, double, or triple cooking cavity. The multi-cavity oven allows users to cook up to seventeen 14-inch pizzas an hour while simultaneously cooking different menu items at different temperatures.

Ovention’s line of ovens includes many features that make them an excellent option for commercial countertop pizza ovens, including:

• They are 100% ventless, eliminating the need for an additional exhaust hood, meaning they can be installed anywhere.
• Full-color UI controls with USB recipe loading for easy recipe recall.
• Programmable oven temperature, cook time, and blower speeds ensure the perfect cook every time.
• Cook with half-size and full-size sheet pans, or pizza screens for maximum menu flexibility.
• Cool-to-touch exteriors and whisper-quiet operation make these units fantastic for front-of-house or back-of-hour installation.
• Designed and manufactured in the United States

Schedule a chat with an oven expert today to learn more about how Ovention can help you launch a pizza program at your c-store, brewery, or quick-service restaurant.