Supplier press release: Perfect pizzas all day, every day

Cafes, bakeries and coffee shops looking to stand out from the competition and offer an all-day dining option would do well to join forces with Imperial Catering Equipment and tap into the ever-growing pizza market.

The overall pizza/pasta restaurant and takeaway market grew by a modest 13 percent over the 2006-11 period to an estimated £1.52 billion, with sales rising by around 7 percent in 20111.

"Opportunities remain for operators in this market to better appeal to the all-day dining trend by investigating flexible multi-service formats2," said Imperial Catering Equipment's managing director Mark Poultney. "Mintel suggests that pizza restaurants should focus on a limited service model to promote faster/shorter coffee shop-style meal occasions, in order to address the pressures on consumers' time and budgets alike3. Certainly, coffee shops, bakeries and cafes could use this to their advantage by making their own pizzas and appealing to time conscious consumers who want to eat pizza but prefer the faster paced service that you would get in a café rather than sitting down for a full meal in an Italian style restaurant."

The Zesto Gas and Electric Conveyor Pizza and Bake Ovens from Imperial lends itself to this market perfectly as, in addition to turning out quality pizzas, it can also be used for cooking seafood, omlettes and other egg dishes, pre-cooked meats, cookies, bakery products and heating plated Mexican food and hot. The ovens provide high velocity precision-targeted air flow distribution for a consistent, repeatable baking result.

Completing the lineup, Imperial's DP1100 pizza dough press will produce consistent crusts every time without the need for skilled labour. This heavy-duty manual press promises to produce crusts equal to any hand tossed product.

"For coffee shops and bakeries, where pizzas are not the main draw for customers, offering 'pizza by the slice' could help tap into the all-day dining trend and appeal to the increasing number of consumers looking for the option of a smaller meal or looking to grab a quick bite on the go," said Mark. "Slicing up pizzas and selling by the slice will also often turn a better profit than selling pizzas as a whole."

For further information, visit www.imperialrange.co.uk or call 01509 260150.