To choose a commercial pizza oven, start from your pizza and your service, not from the catalogue. Wood bakes very fast but needs a pizza maker at the oven; gas heats up quickly and can be adjusted; the electric deck oven is the most consistent. Then translate that oven into a number of pizzas per 15-minute slot.
An oven is chosen for ten years. It decides the style of your pizzas, the room it takes up in the kitchen, your energy bill and, above all, the rhythm at which you can serve on a Friday night. This guide compares the three families without naming any brand, then shows how to go from the oven’s specification sheet to a figure that is useful for your order-taking.
In short
- Wood: intense heat from the deck and the dome, baking in one to two minutes, but tending the fire keeps one person busy.
- Gas: a faster rise in temperature, an adjustable flame, a good compromise for a varied menu.
- Electric deck: deck and dome set separately, longer but very consistent baking, the simplest installation in many premises.
- The fastest oven is no use if the prep station cannot keep up.
- Your capacity is something you declare: pizzas per batch, length of a cycle, then a margin of caution.
Wood, gas or electric: what really changes?
The figures below are trade ranges, for comparing families of ovens. Your model, its mass and your dough move each of them.
| Criterion | Wood-fired oven | Gas oven | Electric deck oven |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heat source | Fire in the chamber, dome and deck heated by the fire | Burner, often under the deck or at the side | Deck and dome heating elements |
| Reference baking time | 60 to 90 seconds | 3 to 4 minutes depending on the model | 3 min 30 s to 4 min 30 s |
| Heating up | Long, several hours for a high-mass oven | Shorter, of the order of an hour | Of the order of an hour |
| Recovery between batches | Depends on how the fire is kept up | Fast, the flame is turned back up | Slower, the deck recharges |
| Adjustment | By hand, log by log | With the gas tap, continuously | With the thermostat, deck and dome separate |
| Installation | Flue, wood storage | Gas connection, ventilation | Sufficient electrical power |
| Maintenance | Ash, chimney sweeping, deck to watch | Burner and connections to check | Heating elements and door seals |
For the details of deck and dome temperatures, and the settings for your dough, see our guide to baking temperatures by type of oven.
Why do the deck and the dome matter so much?
The deck bakes the underside of the pizza by contact; the dome bakes the top by radiation. A good pizza comes out when both arrive together: a crisp, dry base and cheese that has melted without burning.
In a wood-fired oven, the balance is kept by hand: you move the fire, turn the pizza, lift it up under the dome at the end of baking. In an electric oven, you set each side separately, which makes the result reproducible from one evening to the next, even when the pizza maker changes. Gas sits between the two.
The deck also has a memory. A thick deck stores heat and takes a full batch without collapsing; a thin deck heats up quickly but runs out of steam in the middle of the rush.
How long does it take to heat up and to recover between two batches?
Heating up is something you plan: a high-mass wood-fired oven is lit well before service, a gas or electric oven much later. This time weighs on your day and on your energy, not on your pace.
Recovery, on the other hand, weighs directly on the pace. Every batch cools the deck. If you load the oven again too quickly, the next pizzas bake more slowly and less well. That is why an oven does not hold in service the rhythm suggested by its baking time alone: you have to count the seconds of handling and the time it takes the deck to recharge.
How many pizzas per batch?
The number of pizzas per batch depends on the deck surface and the diameter of your pizzas. For example, a chamber that holds four 33 cm pizzas often holds only three if you move to a larger size. An electric oven with several chambers multiplies the batches; a wood-fired oven offers a large deck, but only the area near the fire bakes fast.
Ask the seller about the real diameter of your pizzas, not the ‘number of pizzas’ announced on the sales sheet: that number often assumes a smaller diameter than yours.
What installation and maintenance constraints should you plan for?
Before choosing, go round your premises with the right people:
- Wood-fired oven: a flue, room to store the wood in the dry, ash removal. Ask the relevant local authorities, your landlord and your insurer about the rules that apply to the flue and to chimney sweeping.
- Gas oven: connection and ventilation carried out by a qualified professional, regular checks of the burner.
- Electric oven: power available at the meter, often three-phase; an electrician will tell you whether your installation can cope.
- In every case: extraction above the oven, clearances around it, access for maintenance, and a prep station placed so that the pizza maker loads the oven without crossing the kitchen.
How do you translate your oven into a declared capacity in a schedule?
Once the oven is installed, the question becomes: how many pizzas can you promise per 15-minute slot? The method fits in four steps, illustrated here by an example calculation, not by a measurement.
| Step | Electric oven, one chamber (example) | Wood-fired oven (example) |
|---|---|---|
| Pizzas per batch | 4 | 4 |
| Full cycle (baking + handling) | 5 min | 2 min |
| Batches per 15-minute slot | 3 | 7 |
| Oven limit per 15-minute slot | 12 | 28 |
| Prep station limit (one pizza maker, about 75 s per pizza) | 12 | 12 |
| Limit kept (the lower of the two) | 12 | 12 |
| Starting capacity to declare (80%, rounded down) | 9 | 9 |
The example shows something the oven’s specification sheet does not say: with a single pizza maker, the wood-fired oven is not the bottleneck. Shaping and topping are. A faster oven will only let you serve more if the team keeps up.
This starting figure is then checked over three busy services, by counting the pizzas turned out in fifteen-minute intervals, and then replaced by 80% of the measured output: the approach is described in how many pizzas per hour can your oven really turn out. Correct it downwards if the team falls behind, upwards if the oven is waiting.
An important point about the software. Pizza Planner Pro does not measure your oven, does not calculate it and does not control it: it knows neither its temperature nor its deck. You are the one who declares a number of pizzas per 15-minute slot. The schedule matches the acceptance of orders to that number: as long as there is room left, the order goes in; when the 15-minute slot is full, it is shown as full. If you change oven or team, you change the figure. For the logic behind this regulation, read our guide to pizza oven pacing.
Frequently asked questions
Which commercial pizza oven should I choose to open a pizzeria?
The electric deck oven is often the easiest to get to grips with: it is set with a thermostat, gives consistent baking and can be installed in most premises, subject to electrical power. Wood or high-temperature gas are justified if your menu rests on a Neapolitan dough baked in under two minutes and if someone can tend the oven for the whole service.
Does a wood-fired oven turn out more pizzas than an electric oven?
It bakes faster, but that is not enough. In service, the number of pizzas turned out also depends on the prep station: shaping, topping, loading. With a single pizza maker, both ovens can top out at the same level, as in the example above. Count the pizzas you turn out per 15-minute slot over three services before concluding that the oven is your limit.
Do you need a bigger oven to get through the rush?
Not necessarily. A rush is handled first by turning down what the kitchen cannot turn out at the promised time, then by organising the batches. A bigger oven helps if the oven really is the bottleneck; otherwise, it is the team that needs strengthening. Our guide to handling the rush explains this organisation in detail.
Does the software adjust my oven’s temperature?
No. Pizza Planner Pro is not connected to any oven and controls no temperature. It keeps your production schedule: you declare how many pizzas you can turn out per 15-minute slot, and the orders from the website, the counter and the phone take their place within that limit. Baking remains your trade, and so does setting the oven.
Try Pizza Planner Pro free of charge for 15 days: your bank card is saved with our payment provider and is not charged during the trial. The monthly subscription then starts automatically; you can cancel it at any time, at no cost.