Dough rules everything around Ryan Carey — pizza dough, to be exact. Carey, a 28-year-old Bangor native now living in Portland, sells crispy wood-fired pizza out of his mobile brick oven at festivals, concerts and other events around Maine and New Hampshire.
Last weekend, he was at the KahBang Festival in Bangor, and the weekend before that he served up pies at the Gentlemen of the Road festival on the Eastern Promenade in Portland. The weekend of Aug. 24-26, he’ll be at the American Folk Festival on the Bangor Waterfront, and the second weekend of November he’ll be at the Maine Harvest Festival at the Bangor Auditorium.
“About a year and a half ago I was down in Florida and I saw a guy at a farmers market doing this for a small crowd,” said Carey, who started his business in July 2011. “I realized nobody was really doing this yet in Maine, specifically at large operations and festivals, so I thought it would be a really good opportunity.”
Last summer, he invested the $25,000 in a custom-made mobile brick oven, which he can haul on the road virtually anywhere. On a given busy festival afternoon, Carey and his staff of dough-slingers can crank out between 300 and 400 pies, which they cut into huge quarters and sell at a reasonable $5 a slice. The standard slices are cheese, pepperoni and tomato, and basil and mozzarella, but at certain events, Carey brings out some fancier toppings.
“We do a beer sausage, made locally, with Sebago Brewing beer,” said Carey, who works for Sebago Brewing Company in Portland when he’s not selling pizza. “We do some other specialty pies at other events, too.”
Not only that, but should you attend a festival or event that PPOTF is at, you’ll be treated to Carey and his staff’s laid-back attitude and friendly service. You can’t help but want to get a snack from them — it’s pizza with a smile and, more than likely, a hilarious story. For more information, you can like Pizza Pie On The Fly on Facebook at facebook.com/pizzapieonthefly.
Can he park outside my house?
We waited for over 2 hours in a very long line at the Mumford & Sons concert in Portland August 4th. We were a dozen people from the booth when they ran out. Very sad, for us and the hundred people behind us.
No blame placed in PPOTF’s direction, but lots placed on the promoters of the event that thought 6 food vendors at a concert with over 15,000 attendees would be enough.
Someday PPOTF, I will try your awesome sounding pie!
What is reasonable about $20 a pizza?
I wonder if it a rocket stove oven. If it is I’m stopping in durning the folk festival
I’m surprised that the health inspector mentioned in this article
http://bangor-launch.newspackstaging.com/2012/08/07/news/portland/portland-restaurant-owners-surprised-by-code-violations-including-no-open-door-policy/
hasn’t shut him down yet.
I had a slice of the cheese. Wasn’t all that impressed, especially at $5 a slice. However; it is a creative idea.