Pizza Shop Equipment List

• Brick pizza oven: Though it requires more skill to use and maintain, a brick oven is the traditional way of baking your pizza and gives it a smoky, wood-fired taste.
• Conveyor pizza oven: Ideal for pizzerias that produce large quantities of pizza in a short timeframe, conveyor pizza ovens cycle multiple pizzas through the oven on a conveyor belt.
• Pizza deck oven: A deck oven is what most people picture when they think of a pizza oven. It utilizes heated coils to bake pizzas evenly, plus it’s easy to use and maintain.
• Convection pizza oven: Unlike other pizza ovens, convection ovens utilize hot air evenly circulated throughout the space to bake the pizzas. This method results in pizza with crispy, browned cheese and a soft doughy crust.
• Countertop pizza oven: As a miniaturized version of a deck oven or convection oven, a countertop pizza oven saves space with its compact design while still producing quality pizza.

The best pizzas start with excellent dough, so the appropriate pizza dough prep tools are fundamental to your pizzeria’s success. Though your secret dough recipe is unique to your pizza shop, equipment like a commercial dough mixer and a proofing cabinet are standard for creating and preparing the dough. Regardless of the style of pizza, the most essential pizza dough prep equipment includes commercial dough mixers, dough dividers, sheeters, rounders, and proper dough storage.

Commercial Dough Mixers

Mixing your pizza dough incorrectly results in a useless lump of dough that won’t rise properly, so using commercial dough mixers for this process ensures your dough is ready to bake. As the mixer combines your ingredients and kneads the dough, it distributes the yeast evenly throughout the dough. This allows the fermentation process to occur and create gluten, hydrate the flour, and integrate other dry ingredients. Additionally, a commercial dough mixer lets you prepare large quantities of dough at once, so you don’t need to worry about running out of dough.

Once you make your dough, dough dividers, rounders, and sheeters allow you to distribute and shape the dough for your different pizzas. Most tools are also automated, so they divide, stretch, and flatten your dough homogeneously based on your preset preferences. This results in uniformity across all your pizzas.

• Dough divider: With a dough divider, you can divide large quantities of dough into equal portions for you to mold into pizzas.
• Dough rounder: After dividing the dough, use a dough rounder to prevent gas from escaping from your dough. This machine creates a smooth outer surface that stretches the gluten on the outside of the dough.
• Dough sheeter: A dough sheeter saves you time in the pizza-making process by flattening and rolling your dough into a uniform thickness. This is especially vital in pizzerias that produce a large number of pizzas in a short timeframe.

Proper dough storage saves you time in the kitchen and money on ingredients, making it vital to your pizza shop’s operation. This unique equipment provides the ideal environment for dough to rise and rest until you’re ready to use it. As a result, your focus remains on making pizzas rather than continuously making dough.

• Dough box: By utilizing dough boxes in your kitchen, you can store and transport large quantities of cut dough from proofing cabinets to the prep table. These boxes are also designed to allow the dough to rise.
• Dough box racks: Stack and store both used and empty dough boxes out of the way with dough box racks.
• Proofing cabinet: A proofing cabinet provides the best environment for your pizza dough to rise. They are both temperature-controlled and humidity-controlled, and you can adjust these levels based on your needs.
• Pizza scale: Using a pizza scale ensures that your measurements of ingredients remain consistent for every pizza you make, no matter the size.

• Cheese: No matter which toppings you offer, cheese is present in almost all of them. The best cheeses for pizza are mozzarella, provolone, cheddar, parmesan, and gouda cheese based on their browning capability, melting ability, and unique flavors.  
• Pizza sauce: Good pizza sauce is also vital to your pizzeria’s success. Unlike pasta sauce, pizza sauce is a thicker consistency made from tomato paste and spices and is baked together with the pizza.
• Flour: Flour is the fundamental building block for your pizza dough, so consider buying it in bulk to eliminate the risk of running out of it.
• Yeast: Like bread dough, pizza dough needs to rise before you bake it. Yeast acts as an agent to allow your dough to rise.
• Deli meat: Many pizza shops offer deli meat, such as pepperoni, sausage, ham, prosciutto, bacon, and chicken, as topping options for their pizzas.
• Spices: For a flavorful pizza, consider putting Italian spices both in the sauce and on top of the pizza. Common pizza spices include oregano, basil, onion flakes, and garlic salt.
• Vegetables: Vegetable toppings are common among pizzerias that offer options like peppers, tomatoes, onions, spinach, and broccoli. Other food group toppings, such as black olives, are also popular choices.
• Specialty toppings: If you plan to offer premium topping options, ingredients like buffalo sauce, barbecue sauce, anchovies, or pineapple will help you spice up your other toppings.

• Pizza cutters: From wheel cutters to pizza knives, pizza cutters slice pizzas without damaging their structure.
• Ladles: To easily portion the sauce on your pizza, use a ladle to add and spread sauce across the dough.
• Cutting boards and guides: Cutting boards and pizza cutting guides help you slice pizza perfectly without damaging the surfaces in your kitchen.
• Pizza dough dockers: Rolling a dough docker over your dough right before you bake the pizza reduces air bubbles and pockets to eliminate potential blisters and over-rising.
• Electric meat slicers, grates, and shredders: No matter what toppings you offer, an electric cheese grater, meat slicer, or shredder makes prepping your toppings quick and easy.
• Pizza servers: Pizza servers prevent you from burning your fingers and spreading germs while serving pizza.

• Pizza stone: A pizza stone is an easy-to-use pizza accessory made from a porous material, such as ceramic or stone. It absorbs moisture during baking to ensure your crust is crispy and baked evenly.
• Pizza pans: Whether you want to master Chicago deep dish or New York thin crust, pizza pans help shape the pizza while it bakes. There are many different types of pizza pans, so choose one that caters to the style of pizza you want to make.
• Pizza peels: Shaped like a flat shovel, a pizza peel ensures your safety as you add, spin, and remove pizzas from your hot oven.
• Pizza screens and disks: As a pizza pan subset, a pizza screen or disk helps your crust stay crispy while the pizza is baked or displayed. However, the pans have perforated surfaces to allow more air to travel and eliminate excess moisture.
• Pizza pan separators: To save space in your crowded kitchen, pizza pan separators allow you to stack already-prepped pizzas in pizza pans until they’re ready to be baked.

Pizza refrigeration is a vital component of running a pizza shop. Many pizza components – such as dough, cheese, deli meats, and pizza sauce – must be kept at a temperature less than 40 degrees Fahrenheit until used. As a result, a key aspect of food preparation and your ability to meet orders effectively relies on having a good refrigerator and freezer.

Refrigerators and Freezers

Typically, purchasing a refrigerator and freezer requires choosing between a walk-in unit or a reach-in unit. While both options store food at a food-safe temperature, each has its pros and cons. For more information on which option might be best for your pizza shop, check out our buying guide outlining the different types of commercial refrigeration options.

• A walk-in refrigerator or freezer takes up none of your precious kitchen space, but it requires a large, separate space. Many pizzeria owners use it to store bulk ingredients, making it a preferred option for larger establishments.
• Reach-in refrigerators and freezers are smaller, separate appliances. They can’t hold as much food, but they also fit right into your kitchen for easy access to pre-portioned ingredients. There are more options for different sizes, making them a better choice for smaller pizzerias.

Pizza Prep Tables

More than an ordinary table, pizza prep tables help streamline your pizza preparation process by creating a centralized location for ingredients and prep work. In addition to having a flat surface to assemble the pizzas, it also contains refrigerated cabinets and container holders for your ingredients. This keeps everything you need to make pizza organized, fresh, and in easy reach for your staff as they fill orders, saving precious time and space in the kitchen.

• Pizza boxes: Critical to pizza delivery, pizza boxes are perfect for transporting pizzas to your customers.
• Pizza bags: There are many styles of delivery bags available, but pizza delivery bags are unique. Often insulated to keep pizzas warm, pizza bags are designed to carry multiple pizzas in an easy-to-carry container to simplify the delivery process.  
• Disposable pizza pans and portion cups: For an upscale delivery option, disposable pizza pans often include clear lids so customers can see the pizza. Additionally, disposable portion cups allow you to transport messy dipping sauces.
• Napkins, plates, utensils: Disposable napkins, plates, and utensils for takeout and delivery customers provide them with everything they need to enjoy your delicious pizza wherever they are.
• Cups, lids, and straws: If you offer fountain drinks for takeout and delivery, stock up on disposable cups, lids, and straws.