Mobile Pizza

Bradenton Herald: Scott Matthew knows there’s nothing like a hot pizza delivered to your door on a January night.
One such night last year, when an hour seemed too long to wait, he went to bed hungry, but woke up inspired.
“If you bake the pizzas in vans on the way to you, it would be so neat. You could probably get it there in 20 minutes,” Matthew said.
He jotted down the idea on a Post-it note and incorporated two weeks later. Now his employees roam this central Wisconsin city of 42,000 in a pair of Super Fast Pizza vans, cooking pizzas in mobile kitchens and delivering them – with the cheese still bubbling when they reach people’s doors – in about 15 minutes.
“Most of the time, pizza is cool and soggy when it’s delivered, especially in northern climates,” said Dave Ostrander, a pizza business consultant whose Big Dave’s pizzeria was once ranked among the busiest in the nation. “I think this solves a huge problem.”
The company uses Mercedes-Benz Sprinters, high-roofed vehicles used as ambulances in Europe that cost about $32,000. For another $65,000 they were outfitted with coolers, five small pizza ovens and touch-screen monitors connected to an Internet-based ordering system staffed by a call center in Nebraska.
Hungry, cold entrepreneur takes pizza idea on the road [Bradenton Herald]