With over 100,000 visitors passing through Venice every day in peak season, catering outlets are trusting high speed ovens to cope with the demand. During a quick visit, we spotted a few in action.
UNOX Speed.Pro in Venice Train Station
In one bustling café in Venice Train Station, the UNOX Speed.Pro was front and centre behind a stylish glass counter packed with grab-and-go paninis. Staff were using the Speed.Pro to toast ciabattas and baguettes filled with ham, cheese, tuna, and more — all to order, all delivered in under 1 minute.
This hybrid oven clearly fits the demands of premium sandwich prep in a compact setup. The dual capabilities (baking + speed cooking) mean it can handle breakfast pastries in the morning and hot paninis throughout the day — without changing equipment. No doubt the ability to cook up to 5 panini at once is the most useful tool of the oven though. The sandwiches can all go in at different times and the oven will automatically work out the cook times for each product – every time the door opens and closes
🇮🇹 Venice Airport: The Merrychef Connex12
At another site — Rustichelli Mangione Del Gusto — I spotted dual Merrychef Connex12 ovens serving up premium rectangular pizzas and focaccia sandwiches. Positioned side-by-side in an open kitchen, these ovens were working non-stop during lunch rush.
The combination of crisp finish, speed, and reliability is clearly why Merrychef is the oven of choice here. Menu boards offered full pizza meals with drinks for €15, and most items were heated fresh in just 40 seconds!
Back here in the UK, these Italian Sandwich concepts are beginning to take off. Ad Maiora in Manchester is so popular with the Manchester City players there now have a sandwich named after Erling Haaland on the menu full time! Stacks of very thin sliced mortadella in super thin bread supported by Burrata and fresh pesto: the queue was out of door when we visited recently!
The olive oil rich bread – which is almost a pizza dough; cooks very quickly in the high speed ovens with the end result a crispy and fluffy ‘bread’. With such great flavours and displays the sandwiches sell themselves and allows operators to use premium menu pricing with a minimal kitchen footprint.
