Pizza Pan Increases Productivity and Profit
Pizza Pan was established as a family-owned and operated business in 1985 with one location on the west side of Cleveland, Ohio. Today, Pizza Pan has grown into a successful nationwide franchise with over 58 locations. Pizza Pan is the original home of the “free pizza and ribs” special, in which any customer can buy one pizza or rib and get two free on pick up or one free on delivery. Pizza Pan’s recipe has remained the same, and they still make fresh sauce daily. What has changed, however, are the ovens they use to bake their product.
Pizza Pan made the switch from Middleby Marshall to Avantec in 2006 and has been extremely happy with the results. Ed Rizk, Director of Development for Pizza Pan, believes there is no other oven that is comparable to the value that Avantec Ovens offer. “The ovens are aggressively priced and are also very energy efficient, saving out locations money on our gas and electric utilities,” said Ed. One Pizza Pan location saw a decrease in their monthly gas bill of $113 and also a decrease in their electric bills of $21 per month after making the switch to Avantec. In addition, the individually-controlled, multi-directional conveyors and split belts allow for varied bake times, making it possible for Pizza Pan to bake pizza, ribs, subs, strombolis and calzones all in the same oven, all with a perfect bake.
“At Avantec, we guarantee to deliver more capacity in the smallest floor space for less money, and we were able to show Ed how our ovens could provide him with a consistently baked product, while improving Pizza Pan’s overall efficiency,” said Dave Goble, President and founder of Avantec.
Pizza Pan proved this to be entirely true. “When we switched to an Avantec oven, we found that we were able to cook a pizza about one minute faster than our previous oven, thus providing faster customer service and a much higher output of pizzas per hour,” explained Ed. “Our pick-up and delivery times were reduced, and our capability of serving more customers per hour was greatly increased.”
Pizza Pan stores bake with either an Avantec 3242-2 double stack with four belts or a 3242-2 stacked on a 3242-1 with three belts. These ovens have improved many facets of the Pizza Pan operation including saving space in the restaurants because of the smaller floor space, increased flexibility allowing them to bake several products at once and decreased bake time, which increases both capacity and output. “Pizza Pan could not be more pleased with Avantec’s overall quality, service, output and design,” said Ed. “In a very competitive business, such as pizza, saving time and money is a huge benefit.”