A pizzeria is a cafe or restaurant where the menu is based on pizza with various fillings and its derivatives. The size of the premises, the selection of equipment, the staff and the stock of products depend on the assortment and production volumes.
STEP 1. Marketing
Those wishing to start a restaurant business can consider the option of a pizzeria. In St. Petersburg, many produce and sell pizza. But there are no establishments that officially call themselves "pizzerias".
Abroad, especially in the homeland of pizza, in Italy, pizzerias belong to the category of fast foods, where you can have a snack “cheap and cheerful”.
“Pizza production is a very profitable business,” says Sergey Buyanov, chef of the Mama Roma restaurant. “This is due to the low cost price and high popularity of the dish. Our network has 20 thousand regular customers, and 80% of visitors order pizza."
The most common source of pizza in St. Petersburg is street stalls. These products have little in common with Italian cuisine. Rather, they can be called open-filled yeast cakes.
Restaurant pizza is closest to the original. It, in addition to the main menu, is prepared by restaurants of Italian cuisine: Pizzicato, Mama Roma, La Strada, Macaroni, etc. A significant share of the market is taken by the fast food chain Patio Pizza, Pizza Hut, KFC.
Almost all restaurants offer take-out pizza. Some of them deliver orders to neighboring offices and apartments. Professionally “pizza at home” is delivered by “Marko Foods” (trade mark “Markopizza”), “Cola-Pizza”.
Pizza is also part of the assortment of bakeries and pastry shops. “Often a customer comes for a cake and orders a pizza in the appendage,” says Lyudmila Zubakova, General Director of CJSC “Company“Baltic Bread”.
In addition to catering, the production of pizza was mastered by manufacturers of semi-finished products: Morozko, Daria, Talosto and others.
STEP 2. PRODUCTION REQUIREMENTS
Pizza production must comply with the SES standards for bakery enterprises.
The requirements for the room include tiling the walls or painting them with water-based paint, the presence of hot and cold water, supply and exhaust ventilation, sewerage, etc.
If the pizzeria is located in a residential building, the equipment should not generate a lot of noise and vibration. The operating mode in this case may be limited.
“The dimensions of the premises depend on the volume of production and the number of seats,” says Lyudmila Zubakova, General Director of CJSC “Company“Baltic Bread”,“on average, a pizzeria occupies at least 100–150 m2.”
The area of the pizzeria can be from 50 m2. Recommended area - from 100 m2. A small production facility can accommodate up to 25 m2.
STEP 3. EQUIPMENT DEPENDS ON THE RANGE
The choice of technique depends on how many types of pizza and in what volumes you are going to produce. The smaller the production, the more manual labor needs to be involved in it.
The firms "Agropromstroy", "Trade equipment" are engaged in the supply of imported equipment. Among the Russians, the most actively promoting the specialized equipment of the company "ZTO" (Novosibirsk), "Elf 4M" (Ryazan) and others. Suitable bakery equipment is produced by "Russian Trapeza" (St. Petersburg).
If you only cook vegetable pizzas, you can limit yourself to two refrigerators. In accordance with the requirements of the SES, separate refrigeration units are required for storing vegetables, meat, seafood, fish.
Plastic containers are suitable. Aluminum is considered a harmful metal, stainless steel is too expensive. Glassware cannot be used in food production at all.
The base for Kress pizza can be ordered at bakeries or produced independently. The dough for her is prepared by hand or in dough mixing machines. It is generally accepted that "hand-made" dough is made "with a soul", but in machines it does not overheat from the hands, it comes out more homogeneous. The finished dough is hung and shaped by hand or using a specialized technique. Then placed in a proofer. You can also do without a cabinet. But if the dough "reaches" on the tables, it will take up a lot of space and wind up.
The filling, depending on the volume, is cut by hand or on special grinders. Meat for topping must undergo heat treatment. The filling is laid out on dough bases. The resulting pizza is baked or frozen.
The oven can be deck, special (only for pizza) or conveyor. The latter is recommended for large productions. Baking pizza on wood is considered a purely Italian way.
“The pizza oven is similar to our Russian stone ovens,” says Tatyana Kurnakova, the administrator of the Pizzicato restaurant. “The firewood is burning in the depths of the hearth, and the pizza is laid out next to it, on the stone bottom. This pizza is especially crispy and flavorful.
The five most popular pizzas according to the Mama Roma and Pizzicato restaurants
- "Margarita": Tomatoes
- "Prosciuta-fungi": Tomatoes + ham + mushrooms + cheese
- Pizza "Four seasons": Artichokes + mushrooms + ham + shrimps
- Pizza "Four cheese": Four different types of cheese
- Pizza-parmesa: Tomatoes + dry-smoked pork leg
STEP 4. PIZAIOLA DECIDES EVERYTHING
To serve a small pizzeria, two people are enough: a cook and a seller (waiter). These are the people who will determine the success of your business.
The quality of pizza depends on the honesty and professionalism of the chef. “It takes six months or more to learn how to cook real pizza,” says Sergey Buyanov, head chef of the Mama Roma restaurant. “There is no pizza school in St. Petersburg. Restaurants invite specialists from abroad or nurture them on their own. It is best to study and train in the homeland of pizza - in Italy. There are even specialized educational institutions there”.
A chef's salary will average $ 150–600. The salary for the seller / waiter is $ 100-200.
Many cafes are cutting down on staff costs with "student" staff.
STEP 5. SELECTION OF RAW MATERIALS DEPENDS ON AMBITIONS
Practice shows that the assortment should include five types of pizza or more. Products for the dish can be both imported and domestic. Most restaurateurs use a mixed option. “If you use only imports, the pizza will turn out to be“golden”, - Tatiana Kurnakova, the administrator of the Pizzicato restaurant, commented.
Most of the complaints are caused by cheese, flour, yeast and spices. “You can use not the Italian mozzarella cheese, but its Russian counterpart,” says Sergey Buyanov, head chef of the Mama Roma restaurant. - The pizza will turn out to be edible, even tasty, but it will not be literally "Italian". Both intermediaries and manufacturers are involved in the supply of raw materials. For example, mozzarella cheese is produced by the Russian-Italian LLC Michelangelo in the village of Kobralovo, near Gatchina. Market participants note the benefits of “professional” hypermarkets such as Metro.
The necessary equipment for the production of frozen or fully prepared pizza are:
flour sifter, kneading machine, dough divider, dough maker, vegetable cutter (also known as a grater), sauce plate, cutting table, oven, refrigeration units, Optional heat-resistant pizza transport bags may be included: $ 30-80 apiece.
Total: the total cost of a pizza production line is from $ 4.5 to $ 150 thousand. The price depends on the manufacturer (domestic / imported), the quality and capacity of the equipment.
The pizza trade is directly dependent on the season. In the summer, pizza consumption increases. Thus, the payback of an enterprise, depending on the volume of investments and the season, can be from 6 months to 3 years. In 2 years, such a pizzeria will bring in monthly income of up to $ 100 thousand.
