Mario Batali Signature Wood Burning Brick Ovens

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Traditionally, the way to start a business is to pinpoint a need and fill it. That is the key to Chicago Brick Ovens success story. They used that principal to start their business and then applied it to a new line of backyard brick ovens branded by Mario Batali. Super Chef received an email from Mario about the new brick ovens and decided to check out the story. Super Chef spoke to Carmen "Carm" Parisi, one of the three founding partners. He and neighbors, Mark DiGregorio and Bill Paschen found out that they all wanted backyard brick ovens and decided to pool their efforts in order to lower their costs. In their research they quickly discovered that the European-imported ovens took a long time and much paperwork to import, were expensive, and difficult to assemble. "We imported a European wood burning oven. It was big, heavy, and complex. We saw you had to hire two three people to put it together. These kinds of ovens are big and cavernous. They take three hours to heat up." They decided to start a company building residential ovens in the US. Their ovens take less then thirty minutes to assemble and a fraction of the time to heat up. Each of the three partners brought outside expertise to the business: marketing know-how, food service knowledge, and residential building requirements. How did Mario Batali signature line of wood burning brick ovens come about? "One partner met Mario's brand manager at a trade show. Mario has an affinity for wood burning ovens. He has them in LA and in other restaurants. He is all about wood burning cooking. We looked at his product line and we realized that brick ovens were missing. He tested our ovens and we met with him. He told us, this is exactly what I am looking for." The key was understanding that Mario also had a need that the company could meet. Mario partnered with CBO on the designs for the Mario Batali line of ovens. The smallest, mobile brick oven, the Amici (PDF), will put you back approximately $3,900. The Etna (PDF) is $7,500 with a sturdy brick base, and the top of the line Vesuvius (PDF) is approximately $9,500 or $12,500 depending on the size. Crave the same wood oven roasted leg of lamb or rosemary scented roasted vegetables Mario or Jamie Oliver pull out of their ovens? You need to get your hands on one of these. Each comes with Mario's name above the door. Carm explained that the ovens have traditionally been sold as "pizza ovens," but the Chicago Brick Ovens are creating their own category. They do not produce restaurant grade units yet. The company also sells kits outside the Mario line, which can also be assembled in half an hour. As for Mario, adding ovens to his growing line of signature products opens the door to even more branding of white goods that fit with his cooking style. Super Chef assumes that Mario already has a brick oven cookbook in the works to follow up on his Italian Grill(see Super Chef's review. Previous articles: Mario Batali: Italian Grill Mario Batali: Still on Food Network? Mario Dumps Iron Chef for Gwyneth Paltrow Mario Batali's Ernst Benz Watch Mario Batali Bistro Crocs FOOD FLICKS: Mario Batali on Jimmy Kimmel Mario Batali Marketing Webcast TIME for Mario Mario Batali: 2 Brothers Mario Batali Tailgates NASCAR Style Newsweek Cites Juliette Rossant on Mario Batali Juliette Rossant: Forbes Tastemakers Mario Batali: Molto Italiano Newsweek Bets on Mario Batali's Basting Brush Iron Chef Pizza Wars: Batali v. Puck Nancy Silverton & Mario Batali's Mozza Anita Lo Defeats Mario Batali on Iron Chef America Molto Mario Massascres Mahi [Chefs & Branding - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, cookbooks, cookbook reviews, Mario Batali --> back to Super Chef