Peerless 2323P deck oven helps bring gourmet pizza to Daly’s Pub, a downtown Sandusky, Ohio, landmark since 1950 featuring good food, good people, and good old time Irish music
For years, Daly’s Pub in Sandusky, Ohio has been a popular gathering place. This longtime downtown watering hole has also been a popular place to grab a bite to eat, with a full kitchen and menu available throughout the day.
In 2013, owner David Bier decided he wanted to add pizza to the menu. He and kitchen manager Phillip Milter put their heads together and came up with a menu featuring five gourmet pizzas.
When it came time to purchase an oven to bake the new pies in, Bier stayed with his tradition of using local products. He went with his neighbor right down the street: Peerless Ovens. Bier had a 2324P installed, and Daly’s was officially in the pizza business.
“We’ve got five gourmet pizzas on a separate menu: Buffalo Chicken, Pepperoni & Sausage, Three Cheese, Pesto and a Tuscan Pizza,” Bier said. “We’ve got a different pizza on special every day, and we’ll probably double the pizzas we offer over the next few months. And our pizzas are made with local ingredients. We thought it only made sense to bake them in an oven made locally right here in Sandusky.”
According to Milter, the new pizzas became popular with Daly’s patrons from the start.
“We purchased the oven back in May 2014,” Milter said. “and by Labor Day weekend we sold our 1,000th pizza, so it’s been a successful venture. It paid for itself in about three and a half months. Now we’re going to expand our menu and do another seven or eight different pizzas.
Milter echoed Bier’s comments about locally-made products. He also talked about how he knew Peerless owner Bryan Huntley and other members of his family.
“We try to do everything locally, and the oven is locally made,” Milter said. “We try to use as many local products as we can when we make the pizzas. I’ve known of Peerless for years. I knew Bryan’s dad and his uncle and other members of his family. We decided this was the best way to go.”
Still, Milter – a veteran in the kitchen – never thought he’d be baking pizzas at this stage of his career.
“I’ve been in this business for over 45 years. I never really thought that I’d be making pizzas in my 60s, but using the Peerless makes it easy,” he said. “I’ve had no problems with the oven. I’ve worked with conveyor systems in other businesses, but I’m very happy with the Peerless. If I had to do it again, I’d definitely go with this oven as opposed to a conveyor.”
Milter also said the Peerless multideck was better to work with that the convection oven he used to have at Daly’s.
“I’ve experimented with some subs and sandwiches, along with a few flatbreads,” he said. “We’ll cook some other items earlier in the day, but the rest of the day it’s mostly pizza and subs. Before we got the Peerless, we had a convection oven. The only speed it would work on would be high, so it was really difficult to cook anything in a high-speed convection oven. Everything would burn. You couldn’t cook a roast in there, you couldn’t cook pork because it cooked too hot, too fast. This is one of the reasons we got the Peerless.”
Bier is very pleased with his Peerless oven. “It’s probably one of the best investments we’ve ever made here at Daly’s. I would recommend it to anybody looking for a pizza oven.”
Daly’s Pub
David Bier, owner
104 Columbus Avenue
Sandusky, Ohio 44870
(419) 502-0241