“The ideal Italian pizza, be it Neapolitan or Roman, has a crisp crust flecked with dark spots — marks left by a blazing hot oven. The dough is fluffy, moist and stretchy, and the toppings are piping hot. A pizzeria's brick oven pops these out to perfection, but intrepid home cooks attempting to re-create Italian-style pizzas have more than likely discovered facsimiles are nigh impossible to produce,” writes Angus Chen in their recent NPR article entitled “Pizza Physics: Why Brick Ovens Bake The Perfect Italian-Style Pie.”
"Even if you prepare [the pizza] the same way, you cannot get the same result with just your oven at home," says Andreas Glatz, a physicist at Northern Illinois University and pizza enthusiast, in Chen’s article.
According to the NPR piece, “The fact that you need a vaulted brick oven to bake a great Italian-style pizza is well-known, but Glatz and Andrey Varlamov, also a pizza-eater and physicist at the Institute of Superconductors, Oxides and Other Innovative Materials and Devices in Rome, wanted to know why. The secret behind a pizzeria's magic, they concluded in a paper published on arXiv.org last month, is in some unique thermal properties of the brick oven.”
“They started off interviewing pizzaiolos, or pizza makers, in Rome who were masters of the Roman style of pizza. For this, the bake lasts 2 minutes at 626 degrees Fahrenheit. (Neapolitan pizzas usually bake at an even higher temperature — at least 700 degrees.) That turns out a ‘well-baked but still moist dough and well-cooked toppings,” Glatz says in Chen’s article.
“The same settings in a conventional steel oven produce far less ideal results,” explains Chen.
"You burn the dough before the surface of the pizza even reaches boiling, so this is not a product you will want to eat," Glatz further explains in the NPR piece.
If you’re a pizza lover, today you’ve learned there is an optimal way to make it.
And that got us thinking about your operation.
We’re firm believers that there’s also an optimal way to run your operation.
That’s why we decided to the take learnings we gathered from Chen’s article to discuss why using a methodology will help create the best results for you.
Keep reading; we’re confident you’ll see the similarities between pizza physics and operations too.
A Lesson from Pizza Physics
There is, according to physics, a method for making pizza that results in perfection.
Interesting enough, we’re advocates of using a methodology to run your operations.
And while there is a clear difference from the brick ovens used by pizzaiolos to the fast-paced operational environment you’re responsible for – there is a similarity.
We talk about using the Proactive Operations methodology all the time.
We have a reason for this.
It’s critical to continuously embark on a Proactive Operations campaign to ensure property operations around the globe are achieving maximum performance.
And, the only way to do that, is to talk about it frequently, share use cases, and even make thought-provoking comparisons related to, you know, pizza physics.
We like to be relatable. (And, who doesn’t like pizza?)
So, as we read further into Chen’s investigation of this topic, we came across the established findings that got us thinking about why you need a methodology to create the best results.
It’s time for you to see why it should metaphorically be ‘brick versus steel’ (or Proactive Operations versus reactive operations) throughout your property.
The concise answer: you’ll get the best results in your operation following a methodology as opposed to nothing at all.
Strive for Perfection, and You’ll Achieve Excellence
Perfection is pie in the sky.
We’ve got to be realistic.
But, if you strive for perfection, chances are you’ll achieve excellence.
That’s something to be proud of too.
So, how do you do this?
You employ a methodology that the world’s greatest properties use – Proactive Operations.
- Concoct your world-class recipe – your Strategy
- Gather your brick to make a strong Infrastructure – one that makes the transfer of information seamless
- Augment your operation with world-leading technology that helps create the best results for your operation
Now, while you’ll probably never reach perfection, employing the Proactive Operations methodology will afford you the ability to streamline processes, resources, personnel, information, and communication.
Then, by continuously examining, improving, and optimizing your operation, you program your ability to manage everything 24/7 365 – proactively.
That doesn’t take a physicist to tell you that’s a recipe for success!
Over to You
Is your operation achieving the results you need? We understand that perfection is pie in the sky. But, employing a methodology like Proactive Operations is a sure-fire way to get the closest your operation has ever been to achieving excellence.
By using a proven, disciplined framework, you can set up your operation for creating results you’ll be proud of every day. Start today because maximizing your performance takes time – but your team’s success will taste like perfection.
