Mobile caterers can turn a handsome profit if they build pizza into their outdoor catering and events but finding the right mobile pizza oven for the job – and a wood fired oven that will draw in a crowd or be a crowd-pleaser – is not always easy. Luckily, Valoriani UK customer, James Smolka, has chosen well.
As the owner of recently formed J&J Ovens, Mr Smolka – and his new business partner – will be making the business a new entrant into the world of corporate events, wedding and festival catering. The aim is to channel twenty years of catering expertise – from French to Italian cuisine cooked in positions held at venues such as Taps in Manchester, the Met in Didsbury and various London restaurants – into the new venture and offer mobile pizza in an Italian street-food style.
Pizzas and arancini will be on the menu and the plan is for J&J Ovens to be part of the Christmas markets in Manchester this year, drawing in hungry shoppers and serving up delicious, perfectly cooked wood-fired pizzas, from the Valoriani wood oven.
Naturally, to do this, James and his partner needed the right oven for the job and recognised that a Valoriani wood fired mobile pizza oven would serve the business well.Quite literally, the new Valoriani Trailer 140 pizza oven will be the business, so the decision-making could not have been more crucial.
As James Smolka says: “The oven is our company, in effect. We are looking forward to showing customers how fantastic it is, so that they will want to book it for their own events. Our outdoor exposure should lead to outside catering bookings, once people see the wow-factor oven and experience the quality food it cooks.”
The choice of pizza oven came after a few weeks of in-depth market research into the world of wood fired ovens. Both James and his business partner exited the research process with no doubt that Valoriani is a long-established wood oven manufacturer, with an excellent reputation and pedigree.
“We knew this was where we wanted to spend our money”, explains James. “We had recognised that cooking temperature, and maintaining temperature in the oven, were crucial to our success, so we went looking for the best-performing pizza oven. We opted for a Valoriani mobile wood oven, because we categorically knew it would heat up quickly, retain temperature superbly and consistently cook amazing pizza.”
Although he had done his research well, the decision to choose a Valoriani was also reinforced by first-hand experience. “I had seen the same oven at a friend’s wedding,” James says. “I thought it looked amazing and the food flowed from 9pm to 4am in the morning, convincing me that this was an oven that retained temperature superbly and one that could cope with whatever demand was thrown at it.”
Mr Smolka is no stranger to pizza ovens, having previously cooked with a Vulcan oven. His expert eye has been cast over his new trailer oven and he sees “no fault” with it at all.
“I just love the colour”, he adds. “Its appearance at weddings and other events will make it a real show stopper.”
The experienced chef is making the most of Valoriani training videos, which make the process of creating all manner of foods from the wood-fired oven very easy. This is just another advantage of buying his mobile pizza oven from Valoriani UK.
“I’ve had such a positive customer experience,” says James. “The guidance on choosing the right product for my needs was superb. The team really understood our goals and have been a great support in helping us achieve our mobile catering business objectives. I cannot fault Valoriani UK.”