Vitta Pizza Uses Mostly Wood-Burning Stove, Not Thermostat, To Heat Business

DULUTH, Minn. — Heating bills can get high in the winter, unless you have a business that generates its own warmth.

Vitta Pizza in Canal Park barely has to touch the thermostat, as its wood-burning pizza oven helps heat up the restaurant.

The oven can heat up to 900 degrees, cooking pizzas in just 90 seconds.

While the heating bill is low, the business goes through about 128 cubic feet of wood a week to keep the fire in the oven going.

The general manager says the fire adds to the ambiance of the restaurant, especially in the colder months.

“I love this, I mean everyone dreads waking up and having to start the car and then go to work,” Alina Oswald, the general manager of the business, said. “I usually get here about 7:45 a.m. and I’m always excited to come to work and build this fire, ’cause we’re lucky, you know we stand in front of this and bake in front of this all year-long, so in the winter it’s particularly nice.”

Vitta’s oven can bake up to 12 pizzas at a time, with Oswald adding that it’s always impressive if an employee can bake 13 at once, which is tricky with timing.