How to Prepare for a Pizza event

Hello everyone! I hope everyone had an amazing Halloween and made the best of it during this time. It is almost time to start getting into the Christmas spirit! I am so excited. Anyways, without further ado this week I will be teaching you guys how to prepare for a pizza event such as farmers markets, catering parties, or just a family get together. So that if you guys ever decide to make this your full time job, or become a pizza expert you guys will know the proper measurements of preparing for a public event. I will provide you guys a list of everything you need for your event, with some more tips and tricks on the set up!

Here is a list of items, and ingredients you will need:

• A wood fired pizza oven on wheels
• 3 small rectangular coolers for ingredients, two for meats and cheeses, one in the middle of the table for veggies.
• Dough (in containers) loaded into Coleman coolers
• extra cooler full of extra ingredients that you may run out of
• Ingredients: Veggies & meats
• red sauce
• 2-3 cutting boards to make pizza on
• metal tins to cut pizza on
• small pizza tins (can find at dollar store) to serve your pizza on
• checker sheets to put on top of the pizza tins, so that the grease doesn’t get directly on the pizza tin
• 3 foldable tables
• 3 table-clothes
• wash clothes
• aprons for all employees working during that shift
• pizza boxes so people can take their pizza to go
• dry wood, cardboard, lighter to start fire
• wood filled in back of the oven
• jug filled with water, so you can have a hand wash station for proper kitchen precautions
• till, to collect money
• Drill to put your set up together. For example we had a wooden facade that we set up and drilled another piece of wood on top to create a counter so people can order at the front of the counter
• Facade. Wooden facade that attaches to your table to create a aesthetic for your business, and so you can have a counter above the table
• Tent too block out sun on hot days, or to block rain
• Chalk board to write a menu!
• extra ice for your coolers so the ingredients stay at correct temps
• lights and extension cords in case you make pizza in the dark
• Salad bowls if you offer salads
• Tongs, bowls, forks for salads (if you offer them)
• A rubbermaid bin full of: Napkins, Napkin holder, Paper towels, Plates, Red checker sheet paper, Tip jar, Rocks to or weights to hold down napkins and plates, Plastic bags for extra ingredients, Garbage bag you can attach to the oven, Bleach to wash tins, Business cards, Ticket books to take peoples orders, chalk for chalkboard menu.
• Smaller bin full of: tub of flour filled, with tiny bowls for semolina, flour, and salt. Can find small bowls at Walmart. Semolina, olive oil, salt, Italian seasoning, Tinfoil and parchment paper for gluten free pizzas.
• Container full of Proper Utensils: sauce ladle, 2 pizza cutters, 2 big knives, serving spatula, multiple can openers in case one breaks, spoons for other sauces like pesto or Alfredo.

All of these things on the check list are super important for having a proper set up! On the day of your event make sure you arrive 3 hours early to your kitchen where you prep. In those 3 hours you will want to FIRST start the oven so it has time to warm up before hitting the road. THEN immediatley start balling your dough so it has time to proof while you load up for your event. After you ball dough, gather all of your equipment, load ingredients in coolers, and start putting items into your vehicle. When arriving to an event, whether its a farmers market, catering, or family event, make sure to arrive at least 2-3 hours before serve time so you have time to unload and set up your space! I will offer some pictures of what my set up has consisted of this past summer while I ran my dads pizza business. Good luck pizza lovers! I hope this list helped you get an idea of how you would begin to prepare for an event. A lot of this is just trial and error. There have been times where my Dad or I forgot items and we learned to live without it or run to the nearest store. Trial and error is how you are going to learn how to operate a business.