Case Study: Pizzeria Saves Space & Money with Dough Balls

Background: AK Pizza Crust Meets Goodfellas Pizza

Goodfellas Pizza, Bar & Grill, a well-known neighborhood pizzeria bar & grill with a single-location operation in Lakeville, Minnesota, visited our booth at a regional PFG/ROMA Distributor Food show. At the time, the restaurant hadn’t yet opened its doors, but the owners were attending the show to get ideas and select vendors for their new operation. They weren’t actively looking for pizza dough balls or crusts. In fact, they’d just purchased a commercial mixer with which they intended to make their own dough.

Challenge: Authentic New York-Style Pizza Crust Needed

The Goodfellas crew was aware of the added labor and expense involved in making their own dough but felt it was critical to get the classic hand-tossed, New York-style crust they knew would help set their restaurant ahead of the competition. During discussions with the AK Pizza Crust team at the show, they expressed some doubt about a frozen dough ball’s ability to replicate a scratch-made pizza crust.

Also, like many restaurants, Goodfellas was short on kitchen space. They acknowledged that one downside of making their own dough was that the dough mixer and racks/shelving dedicated to ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, etc.) were going to take up so much square footage in the kitchen that ample walk-in cooler space for food and beverages was going to be difficult, if not impossible, to find.

Solution: Dough Balls Bring New York-Style Texture and Flavor

It was time for Goodfellas to make a stop at the AK Pizza Crust test kitchen. There, our team demonstrated the capabilities and ease of use of our wide selection of pre-made frozen dough balls. We also reviewed the dough recipe Goodfellas had intended to use and tested pre-made dough ball varieties that replicated their desired texture and taste.

When Goodfellas tasted the results, they were thrilled—and selected three dough ball sizes to use in their restaurant. Bada-bing!

Results: Goodfellas Saves Money, Streamlines Operations, and Preserves Quality

By using pre-made, frozen dough balls, Goodfellas was able to open up valuable kitchen space to accommodate additional dry storage shelving, plus much-needed walk-in cooler space, all contributing to greater food capacity.

But, there are a lot more where that came from. With AK Pizza Crust’s help, Goodfellas enjoyed these frozen pizza dough ball benefits:

Saved Money

• Eliminated the cost of purchasing and maintaining mixing equipment
• Reduced labor costs
• Cut insurance premiums (staff were no longer exposed to potentially dangerous equipment)
• Minimized waste that comes with from-scratch dough mixing

Streamlined their Operations

• Shortened prep, freeing up staff to focus on other important duties
• Cleaned up the kitchen—no heavy bags of flour, salt, sugar, yeast, etc. to store
• Simplified inventory processes thanks to fewer ingredient needs

Maintained Top Quality

• Used our authentic New York-Style Dough Balls to achieve their ideal pizza crust taste and texture, giving them a competitive advantage
• Added a thin crust dough ball variety to their operations
• Received product use education from our AK Pizza Crust dough experts

It’s Your Turn: Make the Switch to Frozen Dough Balls

Pizzeria operators, you no longer need to pick between pizza dough quality vs. convenience—frozen dough balls help you do it all.

If you’re ready to save your pizzeria space, money, labor, and time while maintaining top-shelf flavor and quality, it’s time to make your move to AK Pizza Crust. Get in touch with one of our pizza experts today to get started.

Dough balls aren’t just for brick-and-mortar. Read our operator guide to find out why space-saving dough balls are ideal for food trucks.