How do I check the ovens before buying a pizzeria?

The oven is the one piece of equipment a pizzeria cannot run without. If it fails in your first month, the shop stops selling until it is repaired or replaced. That is why it deserves its own check, separate from the general equipment list. You are looking for four things: who owns it, how it has been looked after, what a specialist thinks of it, and how quickly it could be replaced.

Find out who owns it

Ask the seller for the invoice or lease for each oven. A leased oven, or one financed with a lender holding a claim on it, may not simply pass to you with the shop, so ask your lawyer to confirm what can be transferred. Your lawyer can search for registered claims and can tell you what must be paid out or assigned. List every oven by make, model and serial number in the purchase agreement.

Read the service records

Ask for repair invoices, cleaning schedules and the name of the technician the shop uses. Good records suggest the equipment was looked after. Gaps are worth a question, not a conclusion. Repeated repairs to the same part, or a technician who says the manufacturer no longer supplies parts, tell you more than the seller’s opinion of the oven.

Bring in an independent technician

Hire a qualified commercial kitchen technician who has no tie to the seller, and ask for a written report. Have the technician look at the heating elements or burners, the thermostat, the door and the deck or conveyor, and see the oven run at working temperature. Make the sale conditional on the report if your lawyer agrees.

Check the fit and the lead time

Ask whether the hood and venting were installed for this oven and whether the building’s landlord and local inspectors accepted them. Then ask a supplier how long a replacement oven takes to arrive. If the wait is long, think about what you would do while the shop is closed, and about insurance that covers equipment breakdown.