Keeping caterers upwardly mobile

Orchard Ovens Professional, the exclusive commercial equipment suppliers of Valoriani ovens in the UK, have created a new resource for mobile caterers. Upwardly Mobile is available in the mobile catering section of valorianiuk.com. It follows a large number of ‘rescue missions’, launched by Orchard Ovens Professional, to assist mobile caterers who have found other ovens falling apart after a relatively short period of use.

“Given that so many poor ovens have flooded the market and lured in many start-ups, who have been financially burnt as a result, we felt it was time for us to put something together to help mobile caterers make better decisions,” said Orchard Ovens professional director, Andrew Manciocchi.

The booklet takes mobile caterers through desired capacity, their menu, health and safety legislation and return on investment. It highlights how to avoid issues such as red-hot pizza oven shells and non-compliance within Clean Air postcode areas, while also focusing on pitfalls that can be easily avoided.

Backing the creation of the booklet are two case studies. The first, from Amo La Pizza – a Peterborough-based mobile catering business – highlights how upgrading a mobile oven to a wood-fired, artisan-built Valoriani ‘Fornino 75’, has proved just the ticket for owner Daniela Weston.

She is now able to produce the Neapolitan-style pizza that she has been specially trained for, with no issues around speed or quality of service, even winning Best in Show at the Burghley Christmas Fair 2022.

The other case study relates to South Wales-based Scorchini’s Pizzeria, who strayed from the Valoriani mobile oven stable for a while and paid the price.

As owner Gareth George said of the oven they mistakenly bought: “The food quality was hard to manage, as the oven simply didn’t retain the heat, creating huge inconsistencies in cooking. It simply couldn’t produce the Neapolitan pizza on which we pride ourselves. We knew we had to abandon it and return to Orchard Ovens to see what they could offer, in terms of a Valoriani oven that was larger than our original start-up, which served us very well at the time – a Valoriani Fornino 75.”

For George, who trained as a pizzaiolo with the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN) in Naples, the standard of pizza is integral to business success. “We have realised that anyone at the top of their game in the catering world is using a Valoriani oven and we are delighted to be back in the fold.”

Manciocchi said: “It is fabulous to gain such endorsement for our commercial ovens, but we want to help mobile caterers avoid going through all of the pain, before they arrive at the right solution. Our booklet will hopefully play a large part in that, at a time when getting financial decisions right is absolutely crucial within the world of hospitality.”

Visit valorianiuk.com/mobile-cateringsolutions/. Or call 01772 250000.