The oven is the pizza baker's best friend

Unreliable ovens that bake poorly or break down are every pizza baker's nightmare. With focus on the smallest detail and components from ABB, Svenska BakePartner has managed to develop first-class ovens that work in all weather conditions. Today they are used all over the world - from trendy restaurants in New York to solitary monasteries in the Himalayas.

The lunch hour is here and at the restaurant Funky Town in Borås, Sweden, Saša Vulovic pushes pizza after pizza on the hot stoves of the oven.

- The oven is the heart of the restaurant. No oven, no pizza, he says.

He is far from alone in choosing an oven of the PizzaMaster brand. They are found all over the world: at restaurants in New York to Djibouti, at Italian pizza schools, in the monastery high up in the Himalayas, at the royal house in Dubai, on ships and private luxury boats.

For Saša Vulovic at the restaurant Funky Town in Borås, it is important that the oven always works and therefore he has chosen an oven of the PizzaMaster brand.
"The oven is the heart of the restaurant. No oven, no pizza", says Saša Vulovic.

It all started in Borås in 1992. Christer Andersson was 24 years old and worked at a company that manufactured ovens. He and a colleague had noted a niche for electric pizza ovens and decided to start their own company, from scratch. But borrowing money didn't feel good.

- Instead, I walked around and asked various restaurants for SEK 25,000 against a good oven three months later. Five restaurants took the offer and then we could get started, says Christer Andersson, CEO of Svenska BakePartner, which manufactures PizzaMaster ovens.

Good knowledge and work with the best suppliers

In order to develop really good pizza ovens, he has devoured all the pizza knowledge he has come across. Nowadays he count himself as one of the world's most knowledgeable.

- Pizza differs quite a bit between different countries and regions. For example, the Swedish variant is baked in about 300 degrees, while Neapolitan pizza is baked in up to 500 degrees. We make ovens for all types of pizza.

According to Christer Andersson, a good oven should maintain a uniform and stable temperature throughout the oven - you should be able to bake many pizzas in succession without the temperature swaying. And above all, the oven should not break.

- The oven is the hart of our customers' operations. If it stands still over a weekend, they can lose a lot of money.

Just over 10 years ago, BakePartner started working with ABB to get the best technical solutions.
"Unlike other suppliers, ABB can answer everything we need to know about the electrical components we buy from them"

Getting a good oven becomes more difficult the higher the temperature gets. When Svenska BakePartner planned for more than ten years ago to expand from Scandinavia to the rest of the world, additional difficulties were added: The ovens also needed to cope with highly varying climates and air pressures, less stable electricity grids and more widespread user behavior.

- Then we went through every little detail in the ovens, counting on everything. In that moment we started to collaborate with ABB. Unlike other suppliers, they can answer everything we need to know about the electrical components we buy from them, for example exactly how the function varies with the temperature. This means that we can make the dimensions of the components just right, so that the ovens never break.

"The most fun part is to find the best technical solution together with the customer", says Annika Schiller, sales at ABB.
Christer Andersson, CEO of BakePartner founded the company as a 24-year-old.

When they need a new solution, or are facing a problem, ABB's experts are always available.

- The most fun part is to find the best technical solution together with the customer. If ABB can help Svenska BakePartner to become strong, it also strengthens us, says Annika Schiller, domestic sale at ABB.

Important that everything works for the customers

After eight years of intensive work on entering the global market, Svenska BakePartner now sells its ovens in more than 150 countries. One conscious strategy was to first invest in Italy.

- Selling to the pizza's homeland gave us a lot of free marketing. But it is also extremely important to make sure that everything works for customers with installation and service. They must be able to trust their oven. In the restaurant world, news travels fast, both good and bad, explains Christer Andersson.

The goal now is to become the largest in the world on pizza ovens.

- I see all other ovens, including gas and wood stoves, as our competitors. Wood ovens certainly have an aesthetic advantage, but in terms of baking our ovens are the best in the world.

Where do you eat pizza yourself? - In Naples, Italy or New York - both cities have several really good pizza places.

Facts: Components from ABB in the PizzaMaster ovens

Contactors - switches that form an important part of the heat control
Miniature circuit breakers - fuses included in the oven's built-in safety system
Halogen-free cable channels - keeps the cables organized

“We need to know in detail how the components work at different temperatures, air pressure, and more to be able to design properly. And ABB can always answer that," Christer Andersson, CEO and founder, Swedish BakePartner