Hello from Massachusetts

[ThePizzaGuy]

Glad I found this forum. I am looking to build a towable small wood fired oven under 24" that could suppliment my small catering side gig. I do occasional parties (italian style, nothing over 30 people) that usually include boards, breads, and apps, and sometimes pizzas and roasted meats(when i have access to an oven).. i feel a small.portable oven will help me increase my marketability. .. can anyone lead me to some good threads or helpful information in this forum. Thank you in advance.

[david s]

I do similar catering with my mobile oven, that I also rent for others to operate. However I don’t have a build thread because as a manufacturer myself, it could be viewed as a breach of forum rules because our kind hosts Fornobravo are also manufacturers. I do have a thread about oven deconstruction that you might find useful https://community.fornobravo.com/for...ion#post398266
There are a few things that I’ve found by experience with my mobile oven. A small oven does have its limitations. As it will really only cook 1 pizza at a time, it is not really suitable if you are selling whole pizzas at markets, but if you are doing a private party it works really well. I can prep, cook and cut pizzas on my own, placing them on a wooden paddle, handing it to a guest saying “"here have a piece of this and share it around, bring back the paddle”" I usually have about 4 paddles and as pizzas come out of the oven every 2 mins, over a 2 hr period, can feed a crowd of up to 60 ok. On my own I use frozen bases, if doing fresh dough I need an assistant.
Regarding the oven mine is 21” inches in diam and weighs 250 kgs, the trolley it sits on is probably another 35 kgs, but is easy to roll on and off the trailer, with its 6 wheels, on my own. Do not contemplate a brick oven as it’s likely to rattle to bits on transit. Use a modular cast design and avoid corrugated roads and speed bumps. I also mounted the oven lower than normal to reduce a high centre of gravity for safety when hauling it (floor height 900 mm) It is a little low but you get used to what you’ve got.
Forgot to add that you need to make the flue removable so it won't be swaying around during transit.

[ThePizzaGuy]

Thanks for the reply David. Ive got a bunch of questions ,most I can probably dig up on the forum...but a couple are ...what is the make up of the base your oven sits on, and how do you get the base up onto the trolly? I am thinking of a 24" oven...you had suggested foam, and cast.. would that be the vermiculite, cement, stainless mix? ..do you have a preferred mix for a mobile oven ?Thanks again..Im sure Ill have some more questions that i cant find answers to.

[david s]

Originally I used 75 mm thick Hebel power panel which is an aerated concrete with some thin steel bars cast into the middle. I was concerned about weight and thought the Hebel would be both strong enough and also act as the insulation. Unfortunately it wasn’t successful in the long term and on the rebuild I used a pre-cast reinforced concrete supporting slab sitting in a steel cradle made of 1/4” angle iron that sits on the wooden trolley. Most mobile operators go for a steel floor sitting on a sturdy steel frame.

[ThePizzaGuy]

Ive looked at some of your pics and I am continually wondering if you havee to lift the oven manually to get it onto the stand it sits on for use.