Article

900 Degreez redefines food truck to fill a West Coast pizza void

The truck went over budget and took seven months to build, but has been profitable every month since it first opened.

October 22, 2014 by Nicole Troxell — Associate Editor, Networld Media Group

The food truck segment was a rare high point in the restaurant industry during the economic downturn. The segment’s staggering growth made these types of concepts a legitimate contender for coveted market share.

Food trucks continue to grow and innovate and offer convenience to urbanites aplenty. And because of their unique business model, distinctiveness and differentiation flourish. One pizza concept has taken that uniqueness one step further – Florida-based 900 Degreez Pizza creates wood-fired artisan pizzas from a brick oven installed into 26-foot-long tractor trailer.

PizzaMarketplace had the opportunity to talk to the concept’s founder, Drew Soifer, about the 6-month-old concept’s creation and its plans for the future.

PizzaMarketplace: Tell us about 900 Degreez Pizza.

Drew Soifer:We're a six-month old company with wood fire brick ovens that cook pizza from 800 to 900 degrees in about 90 seconds. It actually takes us longer to toss the dough than cook the pizza. And we cook to order – nothing is made ahead of time.

Our pizzas are anywhere from $9 to $12 and about 11 to 12 inches in diameter.

We make artisan pizza. The word artisan means being an artist, so no two pizzas are the same. Each is tossed by hand – there's no dough press or uniform look. There will be some high spots and some low spots in the dough and some uneven browning because they're all handmade.

PizzaMarketplace: Is that why you went with a wood fire brick oven?

DS:That’s the difference between a wood fire brick oven and an industrial oven. An industrial oven is like a conveyor belt. The pizza comes out looking the same, tasting the same every time.  When you bake in a brick oven, the wood adds to the flavor of the pizza and as conditions change, such as in a place like Florida where it's really humid, that effects how light or dark the crust gets. All these things affect how the dough rises, how much water for hydration or protein the dough needs. There's a science to it.

PizzaMarketplace: How did you come up with the idea to cook pizza out of a tractor trailer?

DS: After living in California, I went to Falls City, Oregon, where I took a position in pizza. I'd been a pastry chef and had a lot of experience with breads, but the pizza position was the only one the company had open and with my culinary experience I started making nontraditional pizzas.  After about a year I had an opportunity to open a restaurant, but I didn't want to deal with the overhead and employee costs and rents and utilities.  I'd traveled to San Francisco and saw Del Popolo, and its shipping container business and got the idea from that.

Then I expanded it and made it my own: I operate out of a longer truck, 26-feet long, with an under-storage compartment. I had to get a commercial driver's license for it. The truck is outfitted with LED lights for events. So, I decided to move back to Orlando, where I'm from and build it back there. 

PizzaMarketplace: How long did it take to set up and build?

DS: It took seven months to build and we went over budget by 25 percent, but I've had a very supportive group of people behind me and we're finally starting to gain momentum. In the six months we've been open every month has been profitable.

PizzaMarketplace: How do you get the word out in your community?

DS:We do a lot of food truck bazaars with an Orlando promoter. The trucks pay him money to enter into these locations where people are there specifically to eat and try out the cuisine. Also, driving down the road in a 33,000 ton truck that's 13 feet high and 26 feet long is kind of hard to miss. 

I also did a charity event where I ended up with a lot of leftover product, so I decided to send it over to the kids at the school for autism and gained some traction from that. When you give back to the community, people want to pay it forward, which is what happened with this. They help you self-advertise and get the word out and then you've got other people interested and asking you to do events. 

PizzaMarketplace: So local, cause marketing will be a part of your strategy?

DS: That’s really one of the reason's I gravitated toward the food truck. I'm not doing it for the money as much as I am for the opportunity to help people.  I've always wanted to help people and I like the idea of having a truck, a mobile restaurant that can go to natural disaster areas like the Red Cross does and instead of giving out clothes like they might, I can feed people. 

PizzaMarketplace: What are your other business objectives?

DS: I want to open people up people on the East Coast to West Coast pizza flavors. In the east it's all about New York and Chicago-style pizzas, but on the West Coast people are really health conscious, so you see a lot of natural ingredients and locally grown food in their pizzas.

When you make your dough, there are no additives and people use sustainable ingredients, so you taste it for what it really is.

My business model is just day to day; booking events and opening eyes to different flavors. I try to use porcini mushrooms and California- and Oregon-style truffles. I have a healthy-style pizza too. It's not about doing what everyone else does. I'm not just another food truck or pizza place. Every pizza is different.

PizzaMarketplace: What are your future plans for 900 Degreez?

DS:Since we're gaining traction, I'm thinking of opening multiple trucks. I'm filling a niche in Orlando that hasn't really been touched yet. Food trucks just aren't as popular here as on the West Coast, but people are reaching a point where they want more for their money. They want something more than the typical delivery, and they want something that is healthier. 

And I think it's the right time because pizza is going through a market trend, just like beer became a fad and microbreweries started popping up everywhere. It was the same for coffee. Now it's pizza's time.

About Nicole Troxell

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