Alfa Ovens began 40 years ago in the backyards of two cousins from the south of Italy.
At the time, Rocco Lauro and his cousin Marcello Ortuso simply wanted to build a wood-fired oven for their own backyard parties. But even then, it was important to the cousins that the ovens look as beautifully as they cooked. So after much trial and error, the Forno Tradizionale was born.
Alfa Ovens soon outgrew the cousins’ backyards and grew into a full-blown family business with both cousins’ full families involved. During a party in 2010, Lauro’s son Andrea noticed guests loved the food but didn’t love waiting three hours for it to be ready to eat. So he came up with an idea. Why not use the patented heat flow technology the family was already using in its stainless steel heaters in its ovens, as well?
At first, Rocco and Marcello were skeptical. After all, customers already loved the Forno Tradizionale. Why fix what wasn’t broken? But eventually, they agreed to give Andrea’s idea a chance – but only on the condition that the design remain true to that of their original creation.
Despite the initial concerns, Andrea’s idea was a big success with the company’s smallest oven reaching a working temperature in just 10 minutes and baking pizzas for 50 people in just one hour.
Since then, Alfa has developed an expansive collection of residential and commercial ovens for both outdoor and indoor use. Constructed with 304 stainless steel, their ovens incorporate the finest Italian ceramic materials as well as double layers of European rock wool insulation and are engineered to achieve optimum cooking temperatures in less than 10 minutes.
Having achieved great success in Italy and across Europe, Alfa has now crossed the pond and is excited to have its innovative ovens available in North America – giving home chefs the ability to cook delicious pizza, bread, meats, vegetables and more in their own backyard ovens.
Wood-fire cooking has become increasingly popular in U.S. restaurants, and Alfa’s ovens provide home chefs the same innovation without the high cost.
“We imagine a world where the wood-fired oven becomes an intuitive device for everybody,” Alfa founder Rocco Lauro said. “We’d like to bring people back to their roots and see one of our flame ovens in every home.”
Hotter, faster and different. For more information, visit www.alfaforni.com
