--- title: "Pizza Parlor & Pizzeria Oven Opening Checklist" canonical: "https://peakscaleops.com/checklists/pizza-oven-opening-checklist/" --- > Source: https://peakscaleops.com/checklists/pizza-oven-opening-checklist/ [Checklists](/checklists/) / [Pizza Parlor & Pizzeria](/checklists/pizza/) / Opening & Turning On the Oven # Pizza Parlor & Pizzeria Opening & Oven Fire-Up Checklist A Pizza Parlor & Pizzeria opening checklist has to do three things before the first order lands: **get the oven to temperature and prove it, get the make line cold and at par, and read yesterday's numbers**. These 8 checks cover all three, with the oven numbers taken from the AVPN rulebook (dome about 485°C/905°F, floor 380–430°C/716–806°F, 60–90 second bake) and from lab tests of a gas conveyor oven that needed 7.25 minutes and 13,650 Btu to preheat when set to 475°F (246°C) setpoint. Open before that and the first hour of orders is undercooked. [Run this checklist - free](/run/pizza/?list=opening) [Download PDF](/checklists/pdf/peakscale-pizza-checklists.pdf)[Download Excel](/checklists/excel/peakscale-pizza-checklists.xlsx) The checklist · 13 checks ### Turn on the oven and check it is right **1\. Turn on deck ovens early enough to reach a dome temperature of about 485°C (905°F) and a floor temperature of 380–430°C (716–806°F).** If the dome is not hot enough, the pizza will not bake in 60–90 seconds. Instead, it dries out the base, and every pizza that hour is off spec. **2\. Check the conveyor oven's setpoint and belt speed. Write down when you started preheating.** A tested gas conveyor oven at 246°C (475°F) needs 7.25 minutes and 13,650 Btu to preheat. It bakes for 4.25 minutes. If you open before that, the first orders come out undercooked. **3\. Bake and cut one test pizza before service. Check it against your bake card.** Checking the base color, crust edge (cornicione), and bake time on one test pizza catches an off oven early. This costs one pizza instead of a whole lunch of remakes. ### Set up the line to sell **4\. Check the temperature of every topping pan before the rail opens. Every pan must be at or below 5°C (41°F).** Keeping food cold (cold holding) is one of the most common failures found at pizza shops. 51.4% of NYC pizza shops have been written up for it. The FDA found this rule broken in 62.23–79.77% of US restaurants. **5\. Fill the make line to your set stock level (par). Keep pans no deeper than 7.6 cm (3 in).** Deep pans stay warm in the middle and do not cool down between rushes. Food deeper than 7.6 cm was twice as likely to cool too slowly. **6\. Check that dough, cheese, and your top three toppings are at par for your busiest hour, not just for the whole day.** Running out during your busiest hour costs you sales during that hour. It also sends the customer to try the shop down the road. ### Use yesterday's numbers **7\. Review yesterday's dough waste, other waste, and remade orders before you plan today.** Waste makes up about 12% of food costs, and up to 4.2% of sales. Yesterday's log is the only thing that stops today from repeating it. **8\. Check that menu prices, the delivery fee, and any offers match this week's cheese cost.** 91% of operators saw food costs rise this year. A menu priced on last quarter's cheese cost is quietly losing you money. ### Hygiene & Safety **9\. Wash your hands and put on new gloves before you touch food.** Dirty hands and gloves can spread germs onto food fast. **10\. Screen each worker for vomiting, diarrhea, or fever before their shift starts, and send home anyone with these signs.** A sick worker can spread illness to customers through the food they touch. **11\. Mix sanitizer to about 200 parts per million (ppm) strength before you open.** Weak sanitizer will not kill germs on food surfaces. **12\. Set out today's allergen menu and check separate tools are ready for allergen orders.** The wrong tool can move an allergen into food that should not have it. **13\. Walk through the kitchen and storage areas and look for pests before you open.** A quick look can catch a pest problem before it reaches food or stock. ## Frequently asked questions **What temperature should a pizza deck oven be?** The AVPN rulebook sets oven dome temperature at about 485°C (905°F) and the cooking surface at 380–430°C (716–806°F), producing a bake of 60–90 seconds. Those numbers work as a set: a deck running short does not bake in 60–90 seconds, so the operator extends the time, which dries the base and changes the crust. Bake and cut one test pie against your bake card before service - it catches a drifted oven for the price of one pie instead of a lunch of remakes. **How long does a conveyor pizza oven take to preheat?** In a lab test of a gas conveyor oven set to 475°F (246°C) setpoint, preheat took 7.25 minutes and used 13,650 Btu, with a cook time of 4.25 minutes and a production rate of 126 pizzas per hour. The same test recorded an idle energy rate of 32,759 Btu/h and a cooking energy efficiency of 43.1%. Those two figures set both ends of your day - how early to fire up, and how much an oven idling through a dead afternoon actually costs you. **What should a pizzeria check before opening the make line?** Probe every topping pan to confirm it is at or below 5°C (41°F), fill to par against the peak rather than the whole day, and keep pans no deeper than 7.6 cm (3 in). Cold holding is one of the most common citations at pizzerias - 826 of 1,607 restaurants in NYC inspection data - and food stored deeper than 7.6 cm was twice as likely to cool too slowly in CDC observations. Setting par against the peak matters because running out at 7pm costs you your most expensive hour of the week. ## More Pizza Parlor & Pizzeria checklists [Receiving Deliveries](/checklists/pizza-shop-receiving-checklist/)[Dough, Proofing & Cold Fermentation](/checklists/pizza-dough-prep-checklist/)[Making Pizzas, Portioning & Baking](/checklists/pizza-make-line-checklist/)[Delivery, Carryout & Keeping Food Hot](/checklists/pizza-delivery-checklist/)[Closing, Waste & Food Cost](/checklists/pizza-closing-checklist/)[Weekly Checks](/checklists/pizza-weekly-checklist/) One free app has all of them: [open the Pizza Parlor & Pizzeria Checklists app](/run/pizza/) - offline, no account, add it to your home screen. ## Sources Every statistic on this page comes from public inspection and food-safety data: - [NYC DOHMH Restaurant Inspection Results, dataset 43nn-pn8j](https://data.cityofnewyork.us/resource/43nn-pn8j.json?$select=count\(distinct%20camis\)&$where=cuisine_description='Pizza'%20and%20violation_code='02G') - [FDA Report on the Occurrence of Foodborne Illness Risk Factors, 2017–2018](https://www.fda.gov/media/169390/download) - [FDA Report on the Occurrence of Foodborne Illness Risk Factors, 2013–2014](https://www.fda.gov/media/117509/download) - [Domino's Pizza, Inc. Form 10-K FY2025](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1286681/000119312526062321/dpz-20251228.htm) - [Domino's Pizza, Inc. Form 10-K FY2013](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1286681/000119312514066092/d661353d10k.htm) - [USDA AMS National Dairy Products Sales Report](https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/dywdairyproductssales.pdf) - [WRAP, Overview of Waste in the UK Hospitality and Food Service Sector](https://bfff.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/WRAP-Waste-in-the-UK-Hospitality-and-Food-Service-Sector-2012-Report.pdf) - [ReFED, Restaurant Food Waste Action Guide](https://refed.org/downloads/Restaurant_Guide_Web.pdf) - [Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, Disciplinare AVPN 2022](https://www.pizzanapoletana.org/public/pdf/Disciplinare_AVPN_2022_en.pdf) - [Foods](https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/12/7/1407/htm) - [Pizza Today, State of the Pizzeria Industry full report 2022](https://pizzatoday.com/state-of-the-pizzeria-industry-full-report-2022/) - [CDC EHS-Net, Quantitative Data Analysis To Determine Best Food Cooling Practices in U.S. Restaurants](https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/47887) - [Intouch Insight, Pizza DELCO](https://www.intouchinsight.com/blog/pizza-trends-series-third-party-delivery) - [FDA Food Code §3-501.19 as codified in Washington Administrative Code 246-215-03530](https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/Law/WAC/WAC%20246%20%20TITLE/WAC%20246%20-215%20%20CHAPTER/WAC%20246%20-215%20-03530.htm) - [Food Service Technology Center, Appliance Test Report - Edge EDGE-3240 Gas Conveyor Oven](https://caenergywise.com/report-library/conveyor-ovens/Edge_EDGE-3240_Gas_Conveyor_Oven.pdf) - [NC State Extension Food Safety, Home Delivered Foods & Meal Kits](https://foodsafety.ces.ncsu.edu/documents/849053/Home-Delivery-Meal-Kits-Feb-2022.pdf) - [USDA AMS Dairy Market News, CME Weekly Average Cash Cheddar 40-lb Blocks](https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/dywacheese_cmebl.pdf) - [PMQ Pizza, Pizza Power Report 2026](https://www.pmq.com/pizza-power-report-2026-pizzeria-failure-rate-is-not-what-you-think/) - [Pizza Today, 2025 Pizza Industry Trends Report](https://pizzatoday.com/news/2025-pizza-industry-trends-report/148305/)