Not Just a Pizza Oven
A Q&A with Francesco Marra, President & CEO, Marra Forni
Marra Forni custom built a bagel oven for Call Your Mother Deli, a Jewish-style deli, that provides superior product quality and is easy to operate.Q: What makes Marra Forni brick ovens different from others on the market?
Francesco Marra: Versatility. We use proprietary refractory bricks that give our ovens the ability to reach up to 1000°. Additionally, we use forced air burner technology instead of atmospheric burners, so that the heat spreads uniformly. All of this makes it possible to produce authentic Neapolitan, neo-Neapolitan, New York, Sicilian, and just about any other style of pizza. We are the only company with touchscreen operated rotating decks, giving the operator the ability to set the timing anywhere from 15 seconds to three minutes and control the deck rotation speed to the second, to cook the pizza to perfection every time. Also, Marra Forni is an American manufacturer so customer service and technical support are readily available. That is not always the case with an imported oven.
Typically known simply to cook a pizza, Marra Forni’s brick ovens are great for slow roasting, braising and searing meats, vegetables, and seafood in cast-iron pans.Q: What other foods are your customers cooking in their ovens and with what results?
FM: Another asset of our oven is the versatility of cooking. Even though a brick oven is known mostly for cooking pizza, we can apply any sort of cooking. It’s also great for baking, slow roasting, braising and searing meats, vegetables, and seafood in cast-iron pans. Another innovative way to use our equipment is sous vide. With all these capabilities, a Marra Forni oven is one piece of equipment that is capable of replacing many appliances, thus making it incredibly cost efficient.
- “It’s more like, what don’t I put in the oven! Everything from fresh bread, to sandwiches, meatballs, blistered cherry tomatoes, charred onions, prime rib, roasted pork butt, branzino and just about anything else. I cook a lot of things overnight, slow and low.”
- John Paolone, Executive Chef/Owner at Cafe Firenze in LA - “People who say that these are just pizza ovens couldn’t be more wrong. We bake everything from bread to slow roasted meats and fish.”
- Jeff Grant, Owner/Culinary Director at Tazza Kitchen in VA - “I have two Marra Forni’s in each of my five Fortina Restaurant locations. One for pizza and in the other we cook all our proteins, vegetables and fish.”
- Christian Petroni, Owner of Fortina Restaurants in NY
Q: What unique manufacturing options are you able to provide for your customers?
FM: One of our proudest accomplishments last year was the development of our Metal Fabrication Department. We now control the entire process of manufacturing. So, we can offer custom sizes, shapes and features. Additionally, our highly-skilled tile setters can deliver handcrafted tile designs that not only complement but enhance the look of your restaurant. This is why we’re the fastest growing brick oven manufacturer in the world.