Have you ever thought driving a school bus would be fun? Paris Rosen bought one on a whim (as one does) to entertain his children. After driving it around all summer, Rosen got a crazy idea: use his school bus to make and sell pizza. What’s even crazier? His school bus with a dream is now a full-fledged business called Brick Oven Bus that has evolved to include three additional buses of pizza magic.
What inspired you to get into foodservice?
“Like a lot of people, I worked at restaurants. I liked the restaurant business and I discovered that I also like working around people. I became interested in the pizza business by doing experiments at home with a friend using a conventional home oven; we stacked ceramic fire bricks inside the oven in order to get the oven to heat up to more than 700°F. We started making really good pizzas and we enjoyed the process so much. It was amazing; I was hooked.”
What do you love about your business?
“There are a lot of pizza places out there, but Brick Oven Bus is unique. We use school buses that have been converted to mobile brick oven pizza kitchens. Each bus is outfitted with a custom wood burning pizza oven—the real thing. Currently, we have four buses in the fleet, with more to come. Home base is an old fire station outfitted with a commissary kitchen where we do prep. Since the fire station was built to house firetrucks, it is perfect for us. Our buses go all over town every day for various events and local breweries; people love it.”
What’s the most interesting thing to happen to your business?
“The best story is how I transitioned from making pizza at home for fun to making them in a school bus as a business. My family lives across the street from where my kids go to school. My kids don’t get to ride a bus to school and they really wanted to experience riding in a school bus. So, I bought a used school bus on a whim (a crazy dad move) and we drove it around all summer as a family. One day, I got the idea to install a brick oven inside the school bus as a way to bring my passion for pizza making to the world. Guess what? It worked.”
What is the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome?
“I like problems and solutions; the challenges make this career rewarding. I wouldn’t be interested in owning a normal restaurant. It’s already been done and the map for success has already been laid out. There is no map for what we’re doing with our company. We are breaking new ground so when problems come up, we have to figure out new solutions.”
Which Cambro products help make your business work?
“We use Cambro products everywhere. I like keeping everything organized and CamSquares are perfect for storing sauce and ingredients. We use tons of Cambro pizza dough boxes and lids. I just installed Camshelving Premium in my walk-in cooler, and in my dish room, amazing product. We also use mobile carts made from Camshelving to transport the ingredients to the buses. I appreciate how Cambro helps us to use space efficiently and I love the durability and consistency of Cambro products.”
About Brick Oven Bus
Location: Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.
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Categories: Cambro Featured Business of the Week, pizza