How I Run a Pizza Pop Up

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📃 TABLE OF CONTENTS
0:00 -
Written and Filmed by: Charlie Anderson
Edited by: Van Clements and Charlie Anderson
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[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

Use code CHARLIEANDERSON50 to get 50% OFF your first Factor box and free wellness shots for life with any active subscription at bit.ly/3uAUwEf! Thank you to Factor for sponsoring this video!

[@jblake0987]

Would be cool to hear more about the commercial side of running a pop up... finding hosts, input costs, pricing, profitability, etc.

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

I definitely plan to cover those topics in future! I didn't want to get too far into the weeds in this one because I thought it might be boring, but it seems like people want to know those things.

[@headges.ukraine]

@@CharlieAndersonCooking Hey Charlie, a great channel and lots of top-quality pizza content! Thank you! If you were to have a 3-5 days a week job, how many of such venues\pop ups could you have successfully handled? Thank you!

[@seananderson2568]

@@CharlieAndersonCooking "I didn't want to get too far into the weeds" that's really out of character for you LOL and one of the reasons we love your channel Nice work on the pop up

[@cryptopeter1]

Great input Joshua. Pete❤

[@jefflinacre5316]

@@CharlieAndersonCooking I'll second this. I'd love to get into the weeds on all this stuff. Very interesting and love how you explain everything!

[@XanderL]

0:39 *looks at bare wrist* "looks like it's about time"

[@Joe_C.]

😂😂😂 I was about to say the same thing

[@ChefChrisDay]

Just a suggestion. Instead of getting a bowl dirty blend your sauce in the cambro you're going to put it in. We do it in restaurants all the time. Especially when you know it already fits in this case. One less dish to wash for you is one less dish for your potential dishwasher when you open up a pizza spot someday. Also pro tip unless there's a reason for it, shingle the bacon onto a sheet pan in straight slices and then cut it after it's cooked and cooled.

[@JustinOther]

🔥🔥🔥

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

Yeah that's a good point. I do typically do that when I'm only making one can's worth of sauce but often I'm doing 2 or more at a time, so I just got in the habit of throwing them all into a large bowl. It saves a bit of time on measuring and portioning ingredients that way.

[@ChefChrisDay]

@@CharlieAndersonCooking grab a couple of 8 quart cambros and you could do over 2 gallons of sauce 😀

[@amarya86]

Also you can save the bacon grease

[@GmoneyNYC]

I think you deserve a ton of credit for being able to do what you're doing while videoing and documenting it. Well done brother! Good luck to you. Looking forward to a follow up video.

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

Thank you! There seems to be a lot of interest, so I definitely plan to make more videos about it

[@Raiden_N7]

I admire the dedication.

[@TheHockeymaster4]

Charlie, i noticed in the video you were hand grating the cheese. I recently purchased the cheese grater attachment for my stand mixer, and its the best cooking tool I have ever purchased for pizza. I have a cuisinart stand mixer and the Kitchenaid one fits on it. It will save you a lot of energy when doing these pop up events where you have to shred a lot of cheese. Im usually tired after shredding 1lb of cheese for 3 pizzas haha. You should get one!

[@ChefChrisDay]

1000% this.

[@Nn-uh2kb]

Hand shredding builds character

[@myles831]

Cool to see the whole process. I did my first pizza pop up as a 16 year old a month ago and it definitely didn't go this smooth 😅. I'm taking notes!

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

My first one definitely wasn’t this smooth either, so you’ll get there! Just keep at it!

[@Eclyptical]

I admire the hell out of your work ethic man, you have a passion and you are chasing it without hesitation.

[@50sKid]

Dang dude, that's taking it to the next level. Definitely appreciated your whole pizza series. The research you did is basically what any pizza restauranteur would have done before they started so this is the next natural step. If you enjoy that kind of work, that is. Good luck!

[@Ophoo5]

After reading the comments, you might have a whole nother offshoot business in starting a pizza workshop. I can totally see it! 3 day class in all the steps, tips, and tricks.

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

I do have a virtual (pre-recorded) workshop! But yeah I think in-person workshops would be cool too

[@wougal]

You gotta just go for it and open up a pizza place man

[@jessl1934]

Homeboy needs to get himself a food truck tbh

[@caseyjones3522]

no, the failure rate is way too high for a brick and mortar rental location, dude would be better off doing a food truck. Even the failure rate of those are also pretty high.

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

I’m working on it! Just waiting for the right opportunity to come up.

[@wougal]

@@caseyjones3522 because too many people who try to do so are incompetent in picking the right location, have poor menus/execution, and can’t train/manage staff. I work in commercial real estate and see it far too often. I don’t see him failing to be able to execute any of the above. A brick and mortar store in a quality location is infinitely better than a food truck.

[@caseyjones3522]

@@wougal"I don’t see him failing to be able to execute any of the above" How well do you know this dude? He's just a KZbinr with a popup. Yet you're here acting like he knows the ins and outs and has the capital for such an endeavor.

[@jakeprewitt3009]

Also, I know there’s not much out there as far as high quality 120V ovens. Have you ever considered a small generator? Put it outside with a long cord and you can have 240 anywhere. Alternatively, you could talk to the venue and see if they could get a twist lock L14-30 receptacle put in for you near their breaker box where you could run a long cord to your spot. It would probably cost them a couple hundred dollars, but would be a big deal for you. I’m honestly surprised they don’t have 240V available at a brewery. Most brewing equipment doesn’t run on 120V. If you know your current draw, which is pretty easy with an oven, and the length of cable needed it’s fairly easy to calculate the gauge needed for an extension.

[@ledheavy26]

An overview of the financials for doing pop ups and beginning a pizza business would be a cool topic to cover. Also could throw in things like scaling recipes. These are just things I think about as someone who thinks they make better pizza than any local place and wonder if it's worth putting my pies out in the world.

[@caseyjones3522]

the red tape is what gets you. Have to rent a commissary kitchen space, get permits, etc....wish we could just have customers sign a waiver and sell cottage food out of our homes. Land of the free my A$$

[@ChefChrisDay]

Valid points. I can shed some light if anyone has questions.

[@cjaquilino]

Thanks for showing the whole process. It's educational to anyone doing a live baking based popup.

[@WalkerBikes]

Your killing it dude, this was a suoer interesting look into something like this. Good for you, the effort to get that together and nail the execution is insanely impressive...if i walked into that brewery i would be AMPED to see you serving pies. 🍕🎉

[@DrivingPhilippines]

Checks watchless wrist for the time. Time to head out! LOVED THAT! Basically anytime is pizza time 😊

[@Pony375]

Cool trick for making glad wrap stick to stuff if you didn’t know already, lightly wet the outside for perfect stick bowl/jug 😁

[@Liafram]

Very cool! I had no idea that you run pizza pop ups, and I appreciate you sharing this.

[@themasalaman]

awesome stuff, Charlie! Pretty cool to see you find your calling. I’m in cincy, hoping I can get up to CLE for one of your pop ups in the future!

[@diggyj8874]

Seeing the behind the scenes of your process for this made for an awesome video! Would love to see more videos like this for future pop ups you host. Impressive job balancing filming all this while running such an efficient pop up pizza business

[@Ophoo5]

That was great! We'd love to see more of that and see how your progressing. Great job!

[@conorsandin6555]

Can't WAIT for the next pop up. 100% won't miss it

[@thecalikitchen5970]

love the videos. You got me obsessed making pizzas. I would love to see a video of how your pop up runs more like another follower suggested. Great job man!

[@seymourbutts2010]

Thank you for all the work you put in editing these videos and allowing us to look inside that world. Great work !

[@MissionFitnessCTC]

Great video man. Would love to see more of this content

[@rickytrevino7852]

I really appreciate this video, you shared a lot of behind-the-scenes footage (prepping dough making storage, renting space, and so on) very helpful my friend. Thank you for sharing.

[@lemumbaimasala]

Yay! So happy for u!!! Everything looks terrific. Post more videos of u working live pls. These are the best! Best wishes ✌🏼🫶🏼

[@stevelitteral]

I so admire you. Your dedication to your craft is impeccable. 😎👍

[@chrisa2657]

really great and inspiring video! thanks for showing us the workflow

[@ggangulo]

Sick video bro. love seeing the process and your POV. thanks for sharing

[@jasonluckey2214]

Great vid. I hope you have lots of success. I've used your recipes for both Detroit style and NY style. Love it.

[@paul_j_b]

Very generous of you to share all this info, chef!

[@TC-sr1qf]

That's awesome you are doing a pop up! If I lived near you, I'd try it!

[@THEREALDATALORD]

Love your work Charlie. Truly a culinary artist.

[@Garymo2u]

You're Killing It Chaze, Nice Job!

[@pierrelevtchenko]

Would love to see more on this man, I'm working on my own pop up right now with a pretty similar set up

[@CptJayF]

such dedication man u can be very proud of your perserverance!

[@altrogeruvah]

You can tell this is a labor of love, good on you bro. I make my own pizzas at home too and I would have loved to run a small pizza place in my town.

[@mattydominic4219]

Good for you, brother!! Wishing you much success!

[@frangipanevegas]

Well done Charlie 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@Chris.E.]

Great video. I love the work ethic. Great to see the process. Keep up the great work. Pizza looks great.

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

Thank you!

[@MrSourCommunity]

any chance you can do a new haven style pizza? Enjoy the videos!!!

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

That one's definitely high on the list! Hopefully I'll be able to tackle it soon

[@jeeters78]

@@CharlieAndersonCooking Would love to see a New Haven series as well!

[@armuk]

@@CharlieAndersonCooking +1 for the New Haven style how-to

[@TheHockeymaster4]

Me too!

[@djquinn11]

Great information Charlie, there’s a lot more to making great pizza than meets the eye!

[@annunacky4463]

Inspired I am. I also make pizza dough and sauce etc…but I tend to just wing it, and most are really good, some are flops. I’m gonna try following your recipes since you’ve done the hard work already. Thanks. Good luck to you.

[@jorgeluisrinconsuarez5930]

love your videos man, i'm about to open a pizza pop up too, i started baking typical breads from my country in the holidays but i always wanted to go to the pizza game, you're inspiring me to do it man, thanks a lot!!

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

I’m glad to hear it, thanks for watching! Good luck with the pop up!

[@mikedtubey]

Great Job Being Efficient Great Setup!!!

[@jnprather]

This is so cool. Love it.

[@cryptopeter1]

You're amazing! Kid if you were near North Palm Beach this Italian dude would go into business with you. Love your content!❤

[@dfb1991]

maaannn i wanna know more about this pre ferment and the recipe for your dough! As a home cook pizza person with own pizza oven, yours looks amazing!

[@Sackenstein]

That's awsome Charlie! Congratulations. I'm a few months is and going crazy with this hobby. Best of luck to you. Thank you for your great channel.

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

Thanks for watching!

[@chayneschaetzle9307]

Dude this is awesome

[@genericreference6969]

Love the phantom watch check at 0:39 :)

[@BenjiManTV]

Love it. Learning alot from your videos.

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

That’s great to hear, thanks a lot for watching!

[@bengoerzen712]

Just made your dough this past week for the first time and cooked it up in a gozney roccbox with some friends, will likely never look for another recipe again, this will be the one I use for the rest of my life...also the pizza calculator is great for easily changing it up based on how many i'm cooking for!

[@bengoerzen712]

would love to see a video where you make your favourite 3 pizzas (specifically which toppings on each!)

[@suzannes5888]

Doing a video sharing your recipe for your fermented pizza dough would be great ro see!

[@viperocco]

Nice work man.

[@RoddieH]

Love this, Charlie.

[@internationalme2897]

Hey Chuck I share your passion for pizza and your videos by far, are the most comprehensive and accurate pizza making videos on the internet. I’ve watched your pizza videos so many times and it helps me structure and organize my thinking when trying to understand pizza making. I’m sure you know this already but for poolish: fermentation time if 3 hours = fresh yeast at 1.5% of preferment flour weight, fermentation time if 7 to 8 hours = .7% and 12 to 15 hours = .1%. If using IDY use 40% of what you’d use if using fresh yeast.

[@HaggisboyUk]

Great video & love the setup, if you don't sell all the pizza do you take the pucks home and put in fridge for another day? Thanks

[@nicolaibrowinkel3473]

This is really interesting. Thanks for a good video

[@Ophoo5]

Duuude, I was hoping you were going to do this!! That's awesome, man! Whenever I come visit my friend in Michigan I'll definitely make a point to come BUY! Peace

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

I'm actually in Cleveland now but if you're ever in the area, you should definitely stop by!

[@maddog8148]

Really nice video. Love the passion. One thing I would suggest is you should pre cook your sauce. By doing that you will get more flavor and it will be less acidic. 👍🏼

[@scoobtoober2975]

Charlie i've found great luck with all of my breads and pizza doughs to add around 15% sourdough starter into the batch. Great acid contribution for browning/char. And flavor. Maybe adjust the hydration down a bit. Been following you for a few years, have tried all the dough recipes and tweaks by you, ragusa, weisman, Reinhart (great bagel recipe in his book). Love un-cook sauce in a how oven for longer than usual. I'm just shy of a new haven color at 550 convect regular oven. Oh and i think cheese on the bottom is my favorite but other have their ways. I let the dough sit and proof for a bit before baking. Stretched out that is. But for production speed that's not practical.

[@YG-kk4ey]

Fascinating

[@zay-lias]

HOW DID I MISS THIS EPISODE!!!

[@WantonMyth]

Sauce on top. Nice. BTW if you wanted to open a pizza shop you could find a dive bar with a kitchen that's not being used.

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

Yeah that's a good idea, I've actually been looking into that recently. I think that may be my next step if I can find one that works

[@JK13A]

The hustle is real dude. Pretty cool and interesting side gig though. Hopefully its turning a profit so its worth it.

[@mohdnoor9974]

Good luck Charlie!

[@VinegarAndSaltedFries]

Great choice in flour Cairnspring is goated.

[@tristanrl1940]

The efficiency as well as proficiency in your methodology is astonishingly good, mate Personally, ! I have cooked professionally in formal fine-dining for a great many years and it makes absolutely no difference whatsoever if it’s that or slinging pizzas - the proof is what is ultimately produced and promised. You employ clever strategy, use of logic and appear to possess an abundance of knowledge and necessary common sense. Very impressive stuff - Bravo!

[@Patthefunny42069]

Super cool! I also started doing pizza pop ups and was curious if you’re using grande. If so how are you sourcing it?

[@NebTube-kh7ig]

Hey Charlie, your videos are extremely helpful. I know this varies depending where you live, but what licenses were you required to get for a pop-up?

[@mtranchi]

very cool hoss. I hope you don't forget us youtube fans once you get your first restaurant/pizzeria. In other words, i hope you keep making vids! No pressure though, do what's best for you.

[@GrandPa_BBQer_Game_Cat]

Fantastic mate. You didn't show in your vid if your turning while cooking. Unsure of cost, but even though under powered if you could get an auto rotating (since your only making one pizza at a time) stone/plate you may get a better product given your doing this solo. Luv entrepreneur's like you, hope you you grow and grow. 👍

[@BattlesDiplomacy]

Please can you put a follow-up video about this? Going over costings / profit etc.

[@punkieclectic2755]

Very nice. Cheers to success.

[@jmystigan]

🎉thanks for this. Inspired. I'm a game developer but want to do a Pop up game retail/ food vendor. I'm almost ready 😊

[@nicholasfolts7387]

What made you decide to alter your dough recipe to include poolish and malt powder?

[@yaelshukrun6793]

Hi charlie! I've researching lately about the new haven style pizza.. i would love to see your take on it! Could you make a video about this style?

[@deedaw9246]

Also was wondering how you store the dough for the pop up? Cold dough dsnt stretch out well, and you can only let it be at room temp for so long. I hav a pretty good dough, but think ill try yours to see the difference in structure.

[@apaulsopaul]

Charlie! A tip for an easier crispy bacon is to cook it in a shallow pan of water. Let the water evaporate then cook it a little bit longer for crispiness. Works like a charm.

[@forbin1185]

the prep kitchen didn't have a slicer attachment for the stand mixer similar to the box grater?

[@susankuti2736]

Hi, your crust looks delicious. Do you think the cheese would be too soft for an inexpensive food processor with this blade?

[@Machuchoq]

When you add ice to your formula do you subtract the amount you use from the water?

[@insertyoutubeusernamehere]

Any chance of a video detailing your incorporation of a poolish preferment into your NY style recipe? That's a new development from your previous KZbin recipes.

[@bkbowker]

A couple questions. 1. How many dough balls do you prep for? 2. How big are your pizzas?

[@Reaconteur]

epic video big guy

[@VideoVideo-qh6qy]

Very cool following your pizza journey. Some good tips in the comments. I'm curious about the economics of this. Planning to share?

[@isiah8323]

Do you grease the dough tins before putting them in there?

[@temotey1115]

Partner up with the brewery and start full scale with them

[@MikeKasprzak]

Where did the prep kitchen and venue come from? Are these services that somebody offers, or did you meet somebody that offered them?

[@colepeters1504]

Impressive stuff!!! Is there any reason you prefer to rent for two 2 hour slots rather than one 4 hour slot? Clean up and opening is so time consuming!

[@SpongeBob.Ripped]

I've considered doing this exact same thing but for Prince Street style pizza and when I did the math for costs like commercial kitchen renting and other factors it made it seem pretty not-worth it for the time to effort. I'm happy it's worth it enough for you

[@jstaffordii]

He has to be selling pizzas at $40 each to even attempt to make this profitable . These aren't $1 slices by any means..

[@SpongeBob.Ripped]

@@jstaffordii well yeah but there clearly is a market for people like that. they aren't eating this stuff every day so another 40 dollars on top of their whatever alcohol tab is nothing to some people.

[@SpongeBob.Ripped]

@@jstaffordii ironically what makes this concept WAY more worth doing is bending the law. Hosting a pizza party at your home or apartment, and people pay for admission to the party. Admission includes let's say 2 slices and 2 drinks ect. Doing what I said just like that, no commercial kitchen required. Super low overhead. Just involves a bending of the law that no police officer would ever give a shit to enforce

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

Yeah I'm definitely making a low hourly rate doing it this way, but I'm not really doing it for the money. It's more for the experience, and to get feedback on my product. With that said though, I am reasonably profitable. Really my only ongoing costs are ingredients and kitchen time, but I can usually get away with 2-3 hours of kitchen time for an event, at $25 per hour. For any given event, I only need to sell about 6-8 pizzas to break even. Of course, there are the one-time costs like the equipment, but those have been paid off pretty quickly after a few successful events.

[@SpongeBob.Ripped]

@@CharlieAndersonCooking look into the idea of just hosting a paid entry pizza party at your apartment/home. It's a bending of the rules for what's allowed but when done properly it can work well and I'd say be better off everyone involved

[@yellow_tonez]

Thank you

[@nonstickwater]

Hey mate have you considered a gozney dome? Runs off gas and will give you a much better results.

[@deedaw9246]

What kind of permits or licenses do you need? Where I live, just to go to the farmers market 4x or more a a yr (its open every other sat). You have to get insurance, a business license, and some tax stuff. Its not cheap at all.

[@rustyschackleford5800]

Go get 'em, Charlie!

[@user-jg3xl6mh7o]

we have been doing pizza pop ups for 16 years now, we do not pay to rent a commercial kitchen, i have a family friend that owns a pizzeria and i use his kitchen to prepare , has saved us thousands in throw away money.