Ooni Day

Saturday, May 9th, 2020

Ooni Day

Everyone deserves great pizza.

What is Ooni Day?

Ooni Day is an annual global cookout created to bring people together with Ooni!

What’s even better than going out to a pizzeria? Cooking jaw-dropping, pizzeria-quality pizza in the comfort of your own home!

Ooni customers have told us that one of the things they LOVE about cooking with Ooni is the ability to connect with folks over making and sharing really great pizza.

However - right now, throwing big get-togethers isn’t possible. But what’s still possible is spreading a little kindness through pizza.

We’ve been SO inspired by the amount of people in the Ooni Community making pizzas for their neighbors during this tough time. And that’s precisely what this Ooni Day is all about: Showing a little slice of kindness and delivering some pizzas to those neighbors around you that deserve them!

How to be part of Ooni Day (it’s easy!)

We have created two ways to keep this Ooni day entertaining and give back to those in need.

1 - "Best Shares of Ooni Day"

We’re giving 2 lucky winners the chance to win $500 to spend on the Ooni website. To enter:

Post your photos on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter tagged with #OoniDay and #Oonified
We will select one winner for each category: Best Oonified Pizza, and Best Photo/Video of an Ooni Pizza Oven.
The overall winner from the two categories will also receive $1000 from the Ooni Impact Fund to donate to the charitable cause of their choice!

More info about this can be found in our blog post.

If you don’t yet have an Ooni it’s not too late! Order yours through our website today, or via our trusted retail partners.

2 - "Make pizza for your community"

We are so inspired by all of you helping people in need. A lot of people in the Ooni Community are making pizzas for their neighbors already during this really tough time. We have came up with the guidance to help you spread the "pizza love" and give a slice of kindness to your neighbors.

To help support those hit hardest during this time you could set up a charitable donation system so folks receiving pizza from you can give a little to a charity of your choice in lieu of payment.

Here’s our guide to help you if you’d like to be a part of this kindness movement safely, during this pandemic period.

BEFORE YOU PROCEED: PLEASE ADHERE TO GOVERNMENT ADVICE IN YOUR COUNTRY AND ONLY PARTICIPATE IN COOKING FOR THOSE OUTSIDE YOUR HOUSEHOLD IF IT’S SAFE FOR YOU TO DO SO.

1. Choose a safe delivery option

Consider how you’ll get the pizza to your neighbors or community - either:

socially distanced collection from your yard or
contactless drop offs to them.

2. Get supplies

Make sure you’ve got the basics in. Order nice and early, and get them delivered to you if possible. Make sure you are covering the basics:

Flour
Yeast or sourdough starter
Tinned tomatoes or passata for sauce
Mozzarella cheese
Simple toppings - we recommend keeping it streamlined with your offerings!
Pizza boxes or paper plates
Fuel for your Ooni pizza oven. Check your gas tank, get more wood/charcoal or more pellets - you definitely don’t want to run out mid-cook!

3. Promote

Let your neighbors know you're running an awesome pizza delivery/collection service on 9 May.

If you’re already on a community group on social or a messenger service send a message there. If not you can prepare a super simple leaflet / order form, and drop through mailboxes. Get them to let you know if they’d like a slice of the action in advance, so you know how many you are prepping for!

To make life easier for yourself, stick to a small selection of pizza options: Margherita, Pepperoni, your speciality and maybe one other.

When you promote your event, make sure to tell people they can donate to our Ooni Day fundraiser, here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/ooni-day, which will go to charities fighting hunger in the US, UK and Europe. You could take donations in lieu of payment, for example!

4. Get ready

Get people to let you know at least 3 days in advance if they want pizza and which kind. Then, you can plan how to cook and deliver to each household.

If you can, spread out the deliveries over a few hours, so you can keep a nice rhythm of cooking them for fresh delivery to each person at a designated time.

And of course, don’t forget to make the dough ahead of showtime…!

5. Food Preparation - Safely!

Don’t break the law! If there is a rule in place preventing you from leaving your home at all, you have to follow that.

Always follow your government’s recommendations for food handling during the Covid-19 pandemic.

We recommend you read your country’s relevant materials in full as if you were operating a food business (even if all proceeds are going to charity). At a minimum, this would include:

If you are showing ANY sign of illness - call it off, immediately. People will not mind, you wouldn’t be letting them down even if it's last minute. It is braver to be smart and not take any risks.
Wash hands before, during and after handling food.
Clean and disinfect all cooking surfaces and equipment.
Wear a face mask or cloth face covering during cooking and pizza collections (here’s the CDC’s advice on how to make and correctly wear face coverings)
Keep toppings refrigerated, only taking them out for preparation.
Be allergy conscious: You may want to advise people you will not be able to accommodate allergies or intolerances. The health risks are quite high and in a home environment it’s very difficult to guarantee the full absence of certain allergens.
Take dietary preferences seriously: If you’re accommodating special diets like celiac disease, vegetarianism or veganism, make sure you handle those ingredients carefully and separately. Same for the utensils you’re using.
Never let your hands come into contact with finished pizzas, instead use utensils to handle and package them (let your pizza slide straight from the peel to the pizza box). Let them cut them at home.
Stay a safe distance (6 feet / 2 metres) away from people collecting their pizzas. You may want to make this easier for people by clearly pointing out a collection point that’s far away enough from where you’re making and handling pizzas. Place the pizza boxes on a surface and step away. Do not collect cash payments if at all possible.

Here’s a list of useful resources:

USA: CDC - What Grocery and Food Retail Workers Need to Know about COVID-19
UK: FSA - Guidance for food businesses on coronavirus (COVID-19)
EU: European Commission - COVID-19 and Food Safety(See point 3)
International: WHO - COVID-19 and Food Safety: Guidance for Food Businesses

6. Pizza time!

Fire up your Ooni, Cook up some awesome pizzas, get them to your neighbors and share pizza love!

And don't forget to take some pictures and share them with us on social media by tagging @OoniHQ and adding #sliceofkindness. Tell us how many pizzas you made and we will match every pizza with a $1 donation!

Ooni Pizza Ovens