What should you pick between a pizza gas oven and a pizza electric oven? What are their pros and cons and why?
These have been long debated questions in the pizza business. For over a decade, the topic of whether to use gas or electric ovens has indeed been a prominent discussion in the industry.
On one side, some professionals emphasize that gas ovens receive broader attention from manufacturers and operators due to their much wider popularity in the US. However, on the other side, many pizza chefs prefer electric ovens over gas ones for their unique baking properties or in situations where gas is unavailable.
At MODALiTA we often advise pizza entrepreneurs about the matter. In a previous post, we already compared wood-fired ovens with electric ovens. Now we’ll do the same with gas and electric ones. And that’s because during the last years we finally arrived at a final (?) solution.
Both types of ovens surely have their pros and cons. It’s important to understand these differences to make an informed decision when purchasing an oven for your pizzeria.
By the way, today we think we have a winner.
But let’s now compare gas and electric pizza ovens and discuss their advantages and disadvantages before proclaiming it.
Commercial gas pizza oven or electric pizza oven: pros and cons
First of all, how do they work?
A commercial gas oven is powered by either natural gas or LPG and utilizes gas burners to heat the oven chamber. The gas is ignited and the flames generated from the burners heat up the air inside the oven, which cooks the food. The temperature of the oven is typically controlled by a thermostat that regulates the amount of gas flowing to the burners. That ensures consistent heating throughout the cooking process.
Conversely, an electric oven is an oven that operates using electricity as its power source. Typically, an electric oven consists of a heating element that produces heat and allows the user to regulate the temperature by controlling the amount of electricity supplied to it.
Then how should you pick one or the other?
1) Baking quality and speed
The first aspect to consider is key for any pizza restaurant’s success.
What temperature are electric and gas ovens able to reach? Temperature is in fact essential for any quality pizza oven, since heat is the main responsible for pizza’s quality and baking speed.
Until a few years ago, a good commercial gas oven was able to grant a higher temperature, thus baking a pizza up to 30% faster than a same level electrical one.
Today, technological progress has run so fast that electric ovens closed that gap and outpaced gas ones. The perfect example is our beloved and always recommended Moretti Forni’s electric pizza oven Neapolis.
Neapolis is today the most powerful oven in the world, with an outstanding temperature up to 950°F. No oven has ever gone so far. With its unmatchable power, you can cook a flawless Neapolitan pizza IN LESS THAN ONE MINUTE!
Moreover, electric ovens bake pizzas more evenly, since the heat perfectly distributes on the plate.
2) Efficiency and maintenance
But what about efficiency, maintenance and ease of use?
Here both electric and gas ovens have pros and cons.
Maintenance: the electric oven wins, since it’s way easier and faster to clean and requires very basic maintenance.
Portability and installation: gas ovens require a gas hooker. Therefore, you’ll need a professional installation, more space and a gas line, which is not available everywhere. Electric ovens, on the other hand, are just wired to the wall which is way easier and cheaper.
Potential problems: here’s the big advantage of gas ovens, and thus the reasons why in specific situations we recommend them. Gas ovens don’t need to be plugged into electricity, which means that no blackout or energy shortage can make you lose half a day of work when it happens.
3) Costs and profitability
Last but not least, a very important aspect for any pizza business.
Money!
Saving on costs and raising profits is obviously the ultimate goal of any pizza entrepreneur. How can we tell here which kind of oven is the best in financial terms?
Let’s try to make a comparison.
Regarding upfront costs, electric ovens tend to be cheaper because you don’t need a gas hooker and a professional installation.
By the way, gas ovens are pretty much popular in the US because gas is consistently cheaper than electricity. There’s a big BUT here. Although gas is cheaper than electricity, an oven requires much more gas than electricity to bake.
As a consequence, making a strict comparison here is no easy task. Energy costs vary
from State to State, and even more abroad. For instance, according to some clients of ours in South America, due to the local energy prices, they have been saving up to 30% of the energy costs since they switched to electricity.
Our recommendation here is to accurately run some tests and be informed about gas and electricity costs in your area before making a decision.
But overall, given our expertise and the technological innovation introduced by the new top range electric ovens, we feel confident enough to recommend them over gas ones.
And the winner is…
As it should be clear to you now, today a modern, top class electric oven doesn’t fear the competition of any gas oven – and food-fired either.
Of course, the ultimate decision between a gas and electric pizza oven comes down to your specific needs and budget. And all the info we described in this blog post are relevant up to this very moment.
None of us can foreshadow what innovations the industry will bring in the next few years, and we’ll surely update this post when it happens.
But having said that, at the moment the best commercial electric pizza oven seems to outpace the best gas pizza oven for a number of reasons.
If you’re planning on opening a new pizza restaurant or you’re willing to make yours more profitable and satisfactory for your customers, don’t forget we’re here to help you.
Fill in the form now and book a call to get some precious advice.
As the official partner in the US of Moretti Forni, you won’t find any better quotes and customer care in the whole US.
Prove us wrong!