Regional Pizza Styles and Prep Table Setups

Every regional pizza style is built differently, and the way a pie is built decides how its prep table should be set up. Sauce goes on before the cheese in one city and after it in the next. Some styles are stretched on the board; others are built in pans. In one region, cold toppings go on after the bake. This guide walks through the major American and Italian styles, what each changes at the pizza prep table, and which Atosa size usually fits.

All three Atosa MPF tables share a 19-1/4" deep cutting board, 1/3-size topping pans and a 35°F to 38°F hold. What changes between them is width, pan count and cabinet space: six pans on the 44" MPF8201GR, nine on the 67" MPF8202GR and twelve on the 93" MPF8203GR.

Quick Reference: Style by Style

Why Style Changes the Setup

A prep table is one tool for every style, but each style asks different things of it:

• The board. Hand-stretched rounds need open board space. Pan styles turn the board into a pan-loading station. Sheeted cracker crusts need a clear spot for the sheet and a docker.
• The rail. The number of toppings sets the number of pans. The build order sets the pan order. A few styles use cheeses most kitchens never stock.
• The cabinet. Some styles keep dough balls in the cabinet; others proof dough in pans that need shelf space. Heavy-cheese styles need more cheese backup than anything else.
• The oven. A 90-second Neapolitan bake and a long deep-dish bake create completely different paces on the line, and the pace decides how many people the table must support.

Read the sections below for the styles you make, then use the sizing method in our pizza prep table guide to confirm the size.

New York Style

New York's pizza history goes back to Italian immigrants in Manhattan. Gennaro Lombardi's shop on Spring Street, dating to 1905, is widely cited as America's first licensed pizzeria, though later research has found earlier pizzerias. The modern New York pie is large, usually 18" across at slice shops and rarely under 16", hand-stretched thin in the middle with a soft, slim rim, and sturdy enough to fold. It is typically made with high-gluten flour, a lightly seasoned tomato sauce and aged low-moisture mozzarella, and baked in a deck oven.

At the prep table

• Board: the 19-1/4" depth takes an 18" stretch, with little to spare, so the board must stay clear. Move boxes, shakers and ladles to the overshelf.
• Rail: shredded low-moisture mozzarella in the center pans, sauce in a pan or a container on the board edge, and a standard menu of pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, onions, peppers, olives and similar items.
• Cabinet: dough balls in covered trays plus cheese backup. Low-moisture mozzarella goes fast in a slice shop.
• Slice shops: whole pies are often baked ahead and reheated by the slice, so the table's busiest period may come before the lunch rush rather than during it.

Usual size: the 67" for most shops with nine toppings; the 93" for high-volume slice shops with two makers.

Neapolitan

Neapolitan pizza is the original from Naples, and the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN) publishes rules for the certified version: a disc no larger than 35 cm (about 13.8"), cooked on the stone floor of a wood-fired oven, with a dome temperature around 485°C (905°F) and a bake of 60 to 90 seconds. The toppings are few: tomato, fresh mozzarella, basil and olive oil on a margherita.

At the prep table

• Pace: a 60- to 90-second bake means the oven is rarely the bottleneck. The maker is. A clean, short reach to every pan matters more than pan count.
• Rail: fewer pans, but fresh mozzarella is wet. Drain and portion it before service so water doesn't pool on the pie. Keep basil for finishing, often added after the bake.
• Dough: many Neapolitan shops ferment dough at room temperature or in a controlled proofer rather than in the prep table. Plan cabinet space around your own dough process.
• Board: a 13.8" disc leaves plenty of room on the 19-1/4" board for a second ball waiting to be opened.

Usual size: the 44" for a tight margherita-focused menu; the 67" for a fuller menu or two makers feeding one oven.

New Haven Apizza

New Haven's style, called "apizza" locally, is thin, charred and coal-fired. Frank Pepe opened his pizzeria on Wooster Street in 1925, and its original oven still stands. Pepe's original menu was simple: tomatoes, pecorino, garlic, oregano and olive oil, with an anchovy version. Its white clam pie became one of the most famous pies in the country.

At the prep table

• Rail: a short list of high-quality toppings: grated hard cheese, garlic, oregano, crushed tomato and mozzarella for those who order it.
• Shellfish: clams are shellfish and highly perishable. Keep them cold, in their own pan with their own utensil, away from other toppings, and follow your health department's rules for shellfish.
• Oven heat: coal and very hot deck ovens throw a lot of heat. Keep the table's compressor side well away from the oven.

Usual size: the 44" or 67", depending on menu length.

Trenton Tomato Pie

In Trenton, New Jersey, the local pie is a "tomato pie": a thin crust with the cheese put down first and the tomato sauce spread over it, the reverse of the usual order. Makers say the sauce anchors the melted cheese so it doesn't slide off.

At the prep table

• Rail order: put the cheese pans closest to the board and the sauce next, so the reversed order flows naturally.
• Rim: sauce is spread to leave a border so the edge can puff. Use a ladle sized for the pie.

Usual size: the 44" or 67".

Chicago Deep Dish

Chicago deep dish was first served at Pizzeria Uno, opened by Ike Sewell and Ric Riccardo in 1943, though historians still debate who created it. It is built in a deep pan: sliced mozzarella on the dough, then meats and vegetables, typically Italian sausage, then crushed tomato on top. The reversed layers keep the cheese from burning over the long bake.

At the prep table

• Board: becomes a pan station. The dough is pressed into the pan, and the pan is built on the board.
• Rail: sliced mozzarella stacked in pans, sausage, vegetables and a pan of crushed tomato. The build order is cheese, toppings, sauce, so arrange the rail that way.
• Cabinet: deep dish uses far more cheese, sausage and sauce per pie than thin styles. Plan backup storage first, and consider drawer kits for the section nearest the cheese.
• Pace: a long bake means many pies are in the oven at once. The rush hits the line all at once as tickets arrive, so pies are often built ahead and staged.
• Raw meat: if your sausage goes on raw, keep it apart from ready-to-eat toppings, with its own utensil, and store it below ready-to-eat product in the cabinet.

Usual size: the 67" for most deep-dish shops; the 93" when deep dish runs alongside a thin-crust menu.

Chicago Stuffed Pizza

Stuffed pizza is a separate Chicago style. Rocco Palese developed it in 1971 at the shop he and his wife Nancy ran, which became Nancy's Pizza. It is a deep round pie with a high crust, a thin top crust over the filling and sauce on top.

At the prep table

• Board: needs space for the pan and a rolled top sheet of dough at the same time.
• Cabinet: more dough per pie than any other style, plus heavy cheese backup.

Usual size: the 67" or 93".

Chicago Tavern-Style Thin Crust

For all the fame of deep dish, the pizza many Chicagoans eat most is tavern-style: a cracker-thin crust with toppings and cheese out to the edge, cut into small squares, a "party cut." Versions of it are common across the Midwest.

At the prep table

• Dough: often sheeted or rolled rather than hand-stretched, so the board needs a docker and a clear landing spot for the sheet.
• Rail: toppings go edge to edge, so portion by weight or with fixed scoops to keep food cost steady.
• Pace: thin pies bake quickly and many orders are multi-pie, so the cut station and boxing area need room.

Usual size: the 67" for most bars and pizzerias; the 44" for a bar adding pizza to a menu.

Detroit Style

Detroit-style pizza began in 1946 at Buddy's, when Gus Guerra and Concetta "Connie" Piccinato baked pizza in square blue steel pans made for holding parts in auto plants. According to Buddy's, the dough is double-proofed and stretched to the corners of the pan, pepperoni is pressed into the dough, Wisconsin brick cheese is spread edge to edge so it caramelizes against the pan, and tomato sauce goes on top in stripes.

At the prep table

• Cabinet: dough is often proofed in the pans, so the cabinet or a nearby rack has to hold oiled pans of dough. Measure your pans against the shelves before you order.
• Rail: cubed or shredded brick cheese in the largest share of pans, pepperoni close to the board, and sauce in a pan or squeeze bottle. Sauce goes on last, so the sauce pan sits at the end of the build order.
• Board: a pan station, not a stretching surface. Several pans can sit side by side on the 19-1/4" board.

Usual size: the 67" or 93", depending on how many pans you need staged at once.

Sicilian and Grandma

American Sicilian pizza descends from sfincione, the thick, focaccia-like rectangular pie of Palermo. The U.S. version keeps the rectangle and thick crust with American toppings. The grandma pie is its thinner Long Island relative: stretched thin in a pan with sauce dotted over the cheese. Long Island pizzerias in New Hyde Park and Elmont are credited with bringing it from the back kitchen onto menus.

At the prep table

• Cabinet: like Detroit, these are pan pies, often proofed in the pan. Plan shelf space for oiled sheet pans.
• Rail: grandma pies use crushed tomato and often garlic and basil; keep those near the cheese.
• Mixed menus: many New York-area shops run rounds and squares from the same table. Keep the round dough in the cabinet and the pan dough on a nearby rack, and run the pans from one end of the board.

Usual size: the 93" for a full round-and-square menu; the 67" for a smaller one.

Old Forge

Old Forge, a small town in northeastern Pennsylvania near Scranton, calls itself the "Pizza Capital of the World." Its pizza is baked in rectangular trays, ordered by the tray and served by the "cut" rather than the slice, in red and double-crust white versions, with cheese blends each shop keeps to itself.

At the prep table

• Board: a tray station. Dough is weighed, sheeted, put in trays and allowed to rise.
• Cabinet: house cheese blends are often mixed ahead in batches; label and date them.
• White trays: the double crust means room for a second sheet of dough on the board.

Usual size: the 67" or 93".

Philadelphia Tomato Pie and Rhode Island Pizza Strips

Two Northeast traditions are served at room temperature. Philadelphia tomato pie is a square-cut, focaccia-style bakery pie with a thick layer of seasoned crushed tomato and a dusting of grated cheese, sold by the square. Rhode Island pizza strips are similar: thick focaccia-style dough with an herbed tomato sauce, no cheese, cut into strips and sold at bakeries.

At the prep table

These are bakery products, and the topping list is short, so a prep table plays a smaller role. Where they run alongside a regular pizza menu, the table serves the hot pies, and the tomato pie or strip production happens on bakery bench space.

Buffalo Style

Buffalo-style pizza has a crust between New York thin and a full thick crust, crisp outside and chewy inside, a sweet sauce, a heavy layer of mozzarella, often whole-milk, and small "cup and char" pepperoni that curls and crisps in the oven.

At the prep table

• Cabinet: heavy cheese means a lot of cheese backup. Put it in the section nearest the cheese pans.
• Rail: cup-and-char pepperoni has its own pan if you also stock a flat pepperoni.
• Wings: many Buffalo pizzerias run wings too. Keep raw chicken out of the pizza table entirely and store it in a separate refrigerator.

Usual size: the 67" or 93".

St. Louis Style

St. Louis pizza has an unleavened, cracker-thin crust, toppings to the edge and Provel, a processed blend of cheddar, Swiss and provolone, and it is cut into squares. Imo's Pizza calls its version "the original St. Louis-style pizza."

At the prep table

• Dough: an unleavened dough is rolled or sheeted, so the cabinet can hold sheeted rounds instead of dough balls, separated so they don't stick.
• Rail: Provel replaces mozzarella in the center pans.
• Cut station: square cuts take longer than wedges. Give the cut station room.

Usual size: the 67".

Ohio Valley Style

Ohio Valley–style pizza started in Steubenville, Ohio, where Primo DiCarlo began making it after World War II. It is a square-cut pie baked with the sauce, and cold shredded cheese and toppings are added after the bake. It is served in parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

At the prep table

This is the one style where the rail is used after the oven as well as before it, which changes the layout:

• Placement: the cold cheese and toppings have to be within reach of where pies come out of the oven. Either place the table so the oven exit is close to one end of the rail, or add a second, smaller table, such as a 44", at the cut station for the finishing toppings.
• Food safety: the cheese goes onto the pie cold and is eaten without a further bake, so it must be held at 41°F or below and handled with clean utensils.

Usual size: a 67" for the build, plus a 44" at the finish if the layout can't bring the rail close to the oven exit.

Quad Cities Style

In the Quad Cities on the Iowa–Illinois border, the crust is hand-tossed to about a quarter inch thick and flavored with malt syrup or molasses. The toppings, notably fennel sausage, go on before the cheese, then a heavy layer of mozzarella covers everything. Pies are cut with scissors into strips.

At the prep table

• Rail order: sauce, then toppings, then cheese, so the cheese pans move to the end of the build order.
• Cabinet: heavy cheese backup, as with Buffalo.

Usual size: the 67".

California Style

California-style pizza is defined by its toppings. California Pizza Kitchen opened in Los Angeles in 1985 with the idea of bringing the creative pizzas of Wolfgang Puck's Spago to a wider audience, with pies such as barbecue chicken and Thai chicken with peanut sauce.

At the prep table

• Rail: the most pans of any style: cooked proteins, multiple cheeses, fresh vegetables, herbs and several sauces.
• Cooked toppings: cool cooked chicken and other proteins before they go into the table. The table holds cold; it does not cool.
• Finishing: fresh greens and herbs often go on after the bake; keep them in their own pans with their own tongs.

Usual size: the 93" for twelve pans. If the menu exceeds twelve cold items, keep the slow movers in the cabinet below and swap pans by daypart.

Colorado Mountain Pie

Beau Jo's in Colorado has served its "mountain pie" since 1973: a hand-rolled high edge that holds a mountain of toppings, sold by the pound, with honey on the side for the crust.

At the prep table

Toppings go on by the handful, so pans empty fast. Keep generous backup in the cabinet directly below the rail and refill between rushes.

Usual size: the 67" or 93".

Grilled Pizza

Grilled pizza is closely tied to Providence, where Johanne Killeen and George Germon opened Al Forno in 1980 and made it famous. The dough is cooked directly on a grill, then topped and finished quickly.

At the prep table

Because the dough is grilled before it is topped, the toppings must be ready to go on fast, close to the grill. Keep a short rail of finished toppings within reach and shift prep work, such as oiling dough, to the board.

Usual size: the 44" beside the grill.

Planning by Region

The styles you compete with, and the ones customers expect, depend on where you open. Here is where each style is rooted:

Many shops in other cities serve these styles too. Detroit-style squares, Neapolitan and New York slices are now found across the country, so check what your local competitors serve before you set your menu.

Running More Than One Style

Most pizzerias run at least two styles, often a round and a square. A few rules keep one table working for both:

• Share the rail. Most toppings overlap. Add only the style-specific items, such as brick cheese or Provel, as extra pans.
• Split the board. Stretch rounds at one end and load pans at the other, ideally with the pan end nearest the oven that bakes them.
• Split the cabinet. Dough balls in one section, pan dough or extra cheese in another. Drawer kits work well for the cheese section.
• Size for both. Two styles usually push a shop from the 67" to the 93".

Size by Style

Each table has a matching overshelf: the MROS-44P, MROS-67P and MROS-93P. For capacity math, layouts and clearances, see the complete pizza prep table guide.

Regional Pizza and Prep Table FAQ

Can one prep table handle both round and pan pizzas?

Yes. Share the rail, stretch rounds at one end of the board and load pans at the other. Two styles often call for the 93".

Will an 18" New York pie fit on the board?

The Atosa MPF board is 19-1/4" deep, so an 18" pie fits, with little room to spare. Keep the board clear of tools.

Which style needs the most cabinet space?

Heavy cheese and deep styles, including deep dish, stuffed, Buffalo and Quad Cities, need the most backup cheese. Pan styles such as Detroit and Sicilian need shelf space for proofing pans.

How do I set up for Ohio Valley style?

Put the cold cheese and toppings within reach of the oven exit, either at one end of the main rail or on a second small table at the cut station, and hold them at 41°F or below.

Do I need a prep table for room-temperature styles?

Philadelphia tomato pie and Rhode Island pizza strips are bakery products with short topping lists, so the prep table matters less. It still runs any hot pizza menu alongside them.

Which size works for a Neapolitan shop?

Usually the 44" for a short menu or the 67" for more toppings or two makers. Pace is set by the maker, not the oven, so keep every pan within one reach.