There are a variety of challenges facing the foodservice industry as a whole, and many of these transfer to the pizza industry. Every commercial kitchen that serves pizza can implement a handful of cost-saving benefits to help them reduce their overhead expenses and increase their profit margins. By reducing food waste, improving efficiency, and diversifying menu options while maintaining quality, pizza kitchens can save money and increase their profits.
During the past few years, the pizza industry has expanded exponentially. Now, pizzas come in a litany of different styles and price points, providing consumers with an opportunity to customize their pizza experiences to meet their needs. Furthermore, pizza restaurants are adding new, varied ingredients to the pizzas themselves, creating niche areas that are attractive to people of all backgrounds. Given that there are also vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options available in the pizza market, it is easy to see why just about everyone has a version of pizza that they like.
Perhaps this is why the pizza industry has grown so quickly during the past few years, as projections predict the pizza market to increase by $51B. Even though this is good news because it creates new opportunities for pizza restaurants, it also means that customer expectations are higher than ever before.
The pizza segment continues evolving, creating not only opportunities but new challenges as well. One of the biggest challenges that pizza operations face today is rising ingredient costs. While the creative menu options are certainly an advantage, it also means that restaurants require numerous ingredients to make delicious pizzas. These ingredients are becoming more expensive, contributing to overhead expenses.
There are also major labor issues, with many pizza kitchens having difficulty hiring enough staff. The available staff is also coming at a higher cost, which is eating into restaurant profit margins even further.
There are steps that restaurants and pizza kitchens can take to maintain profitability without sacrificing the quality of their service. For example, shortening supply chains by sourcing local ingredients could be a way to reduce overhead expenses, and investing in advanced equipment that doesn't require as many staff members to run, or as much specialty knowledge, could be a way to cope with rising labor costs.
One of the most important pieces of equipment that pizza kitchens should use to improve the efficiency of their operations is a blast chiller. Blast chilling is an efficient way to take food products and quickly reduce them to the right temperature for storage. When food is quickly frozen at 38 degrees F, it will not spoil as quickly.
Furthermore, blast chilling allows pizza operations to develop production schedules and cook in batches, boosting productivity and efficiency without sacrificing quality. Pizza restaurants have a variety of ingredients, and it can be a challenge for pizza kitchens to preserve all of them. Using a blast chiller, pizza kitchens can quickly preserve all of their ingredients by keeping them out of the temperature range where bacteria grow, reducing food waste.
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