I’ve been working in pizza since I was 15 years old. I live in Buffalo so there’s a lot of pizza competition but not in the New York slice category. My plan for now is to get an Ooni Koda 2 Max, I’ve looked at all the other options and between not having access to 3 phase power and long refresh times I’ve realized gas is probably the best option. Does anyone have any recommendations, experiences or suggestions for popup success? I’m really more interested in getting my pizza out there than money.
by Buffalo_pizza_
19 Comments
i did it for a while and had a lot of success. it got the point where i either needed to open my own spot or kind of stuff. i chose the latter. I will prob do it again, but im waiting to see how some other stuff shakes out.
Parbaking is your absolute best friend when it comes to high volume
You need to put together a business plan. You could easily spend tens of thousands which I’m guessing is not a price worth paying to get your pizza out there. You’ll need licences and food safety checks and allergy warnings. Insurance? A location? Marketing? Packaging? Vendors? So many more questions before you can think about three-phase power.
I do a “ghost” thing out of my house on the weekends every once in a while and put it on FB to my “friends” only.
Preorder only with a pick up window and I cap it at 15 pies a day so I’m not killing myself. I
run 2 oonis and for a few hours, I have great fun and make some beer money and folks get great pizzas.
My only advice is to have preset pizzas.
Trying to accommodate 15 different combinations became a headache with my limited space, time and budget, and 99% of the customers were satisfied with a cheese, pepperoni, margherita – I also offered a white pizza with lemon, garlic and basil for the one or two that didn’t like red sauce. (Garlic & olive oil base with cheese and lemon zest, cracked black pepper).
Check out Charlie Anderson’s youtube channel. Went from pop-up to slice shop in 2 years
There is someone in my neighborhood who does it down at the local bar with a couple of electric Oonies. No idea how lucrative it is. The margins on pizza are pretty good. They’re selling a 10 or 12 inch pizza for $10-12 bucks to drunk people, and not competing with other pizza places. This is of course, on a card table on the sidewalk in front of the bar with no permits or regulation.
Give it a try and go in with the mentality that you’re doing it for experience and for fun, and if it works out, take it to the next level! I recommend going to a farmers market, or local community facebook groups that have food popups in it
I know nothing about pop ups but that pizza looks amazing
I do pop ups I have a crew of 4 we can knock out 60 pies in about 3-4 hours.
I pay 3 people $20-25 an hour.
After labor, food and propane costs I make a little bit of money.
Any gas oven like the Oonis absolutely suck at making NY pizza. Get an Effeuno, it’s electric and you can bake at lower temps, however, don’t use the Biscotto stone for NY style.
Let’s be honest you’re not gonna do jack shit
You already probably have the best pizza in Buffalo
Been thinking about it myself as some early retirement thing (I’m 44). I would probably aim more towards the food truck route like peddling pizza.
Nice looking pie! I have been thinking of the same thing. Just making 8-10 16” NY pies one Saturday a month to see how well I can scale things to that level. But I was gonna keep using my home oven and try to use two steels at once. Figured I could start offset by a few minutes and then just move them as needed. Best of luck if you go for it!
Yeah. I’ve done about 10. Live in an area with lots of wineries/tasting rooms and a couple i’ve been asked to come to semi-regularly lately. I always check with them to make sure its ok I’m not a licensed business. If they dont care neither do i. If you have a place to host you that is an established biz, you should be fine.
Run a pop up with my partner and I, small menu, three gozney arc xls and make about 240-350 pizzas a week. We’re fully inspected insured and all that. Food costs, taxes, accountant, fuel for the van etc all add up quick but so far so good.
Pop ups settled the deal for me. I have had a lot of commercial pizza experience before though.
For ovens if electric single phase bakers pride has some nice ovens that can fit 18″. If New York I would do slices and stick to one size. I see new ooni style gas ovens which are designed for NY style pizza on insta now. Honestly two or three those would be enough to keep a solo chef busy.
For the first 6 months or so I had only 4 options on the menu.
Only if you make it in a filing cabinet
Me! 60 pizzas i sell out every Friday.