Pesto Pizza In Medford, Oregon.
July 9th, 2007 at 1:59 pm (, )
I finally had time, now that school is out, to go visit our new Medford plant that is up and running! It is huge, and really well organized. The day that I went up there they were making the pesto pizza, and it is really interesting to watch the whole process, so I thought I would put the pictures up that I took from that day and explain how the whole thing happens:
First, the dough is made in big vats in the dough room.
Then it is separated into little dough balls that are the right size for each pizza crust.
Then the dough balls are flattened and hand worked to get the perfect crusts, and sent through the oven.
Then the crusts come out of the oven, go down the conveyor belt, and a machine deposits pesto onto each crust.
Then the employees spread the pesto around the pizza as it goes by. I did this for a half an hour and got completely covered in pesto!! It takes a lot of practice to do it right without spraying pesto everywhere.
Then they place six slices of tomato on each pizza.
And scatter broccoli pieces everywhere.
Then someone sprinkles cheese all over the top.
Then the finished pizza heads into the spiral freezer to get frozen. The pizzas actually never stop moving, they spiral up through the freezer on a conveyor belt and come out frozen at the top! That is me and my grandmother Ellie standing next to the pizzas.
After the pizzas are frozen, they are fed into a plastic wrapper that seals around them and is then cut into the individual wrappers.
Then a big fast machine pushes the frozen and sealed pizzas into the boxes.
Then the boxes of pizzas are put into cases.
Then the cases are stacked on big palettes to be shipped out to stores, where they will be bought by a customer, and eventually end up on someone’s kitchen table! Yum!!
Kari said,
July 9, 2007 at 5:36 pm
Hi Amy,
I am a new employee here at Amy’s Kitchen and I have been reading your blog and was really excited to see a new entry from you. Its really been fun learning about you and your wonderful family. I am really enjoying working here and everyone is so incredibly nice. I am looking forward to seeing more entries from you in the future. Hope you have a great summer.
Thank You
Diana said,
July 24, 2007 at 11:34 pm
Pesto is my absolute FAVORITE Amy’s pizza. I love it!!!
Kate said,
August 6, 2007 at 1:19 pm
Pesto Pizza is my favorite too! SOOO good! And it also helped me to like tomatoes, which I’ve been desperately trying to enjoy, since they are so good for you
Liz S. said,
August 6, 2007 at 1:25 pm
it’s interesting getting a “behind-the-scenes” look at the new Amy’s factory plant – look at all those pizzas!! I absolutely love the single-serving roasted vegetable pizza (I actually posted a review I did on that product, on my blog, a few weeks ago). as a fellow college student (I’m going to be entering my sophomore year at college this coming fall), I wish you good luck in your future studies; and I hope you’re enjoying your summer!!
Sarah said,
August 6, 2007 at 5:11 pm
I’m a nutrition major and just love to see what goes on inside food processing facilities. Those were excellent photos, and I probably ate one of those exact pizzas! And to think, a few lucky people got to eat a pizza prepared by Amy herself! Cool! SH
shawn ruggles said,
August 29, 2007 at 5:41 pm
this was quite informative and neat to check out. i will be trying your mediterranean pizza shortly…. so far the PESTO remains supreme in my taste book!!!!
Amy Sisson said,
October 9, 2007 at 1:11 pm
I’m coming late to this entry — just discovered your website and blog today — but I wanted to say that I LOVE this entry. It’s so fascinating to see how the pizzas are made, photos and all. Thank you!
Anna Breen said,
November 20, 2007 at 10:41 pm
I pretty much eat something of Amy’s every single day. It is so awesome seing these pictures because I eat that pizza! It is my favorite of the Pizza’s but I still eat the others too.
I don’t think I would have much to eat if it weren’t for Amy’s.
Beth Ryan said,
November 21, 2007 at 11:37 am
I have to say, when summer is gone and I can’t make my own pesto pizza, Amy’s rocks! Also, I want you to know that I just got the personal size for lunches and they are perfect. Keep on cooking!
Jo Abney said,
January 7, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Pesto Pizza is also one of my all-time favs for a quick meal. Thank you for the photos, so cool to see the process.
Ikonkar said,
January 13, 2008 at 1:14 am
Wow! That’s really cool.. I agree, Pesto is one of my favorites too!
“I don’t think I would have much to eat if it weren’t for Amy’s.”
-same here =)
Serena said,
January 28, 2008 at 8:54 pm
WOW. This is really cool! And by the way, Amy’s pizzas RULE!
Jennifer said,
February 27, 2008 at 7:03 pm
That’s cool there is an Amy’s factory in Oregon because I live in Oregon! I absolutely love the pesto pizza. I just had some again on Sunday for dinner. It’s so good! Thanks for showing us the inside scoop of how they make those delicious pizzas.
Peter said,
February 24, 2009 at 12:13 am
My wife and I just discovered this pizza in our supermarket in Tokyo. Long way for a little pizza to travel, but it was darn good.
Patresa said,
May 2, 2009 at 8:43 pm
why don’t you show how the crust is hand stretched????? It’s a rather interesting process don’t you think?
Rachelle @ "Mommy? I"m Hungry!" said,
September 24, 2009 at 6:47 pm
That is SO neat! I love behind the scenes of product production.