By Charlie Pogacar

Founded by James Beard Award-winning chefs Nancy Silverton and Matt Molina, Triple Beam Pizza has made a name for itself by serving up Roman-style pizza across five locations in Los Angeles. Behind the scenes, much of its success can be attributed to the company’s commissary kitchen model. Executive Chef Juan Robles has been instrumental in designing and running this centralized kitchen—he had years of experience working in commissaries elsewhere prior to joining Triple Beam Pizza in December 2019. 

 “The purpose of the commissary is to be able to improve quality and consistency,” Robles said, “while also saving costs at the restaurant level.”

Triple Beam now does much of its prep work for all locations in a 10,000-square-foot building that used to serve as a culinary school’s bakery. The commissary produces everything from pane biancos (the Roman-style bread base) to sauces, vinaigrettes and house-made gluten-free doughs. They’re all made fresh, then delivered to the restaurants just hours later. 

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This approach ensures that every slice of pizza from Triple Beam is nearly identical, regardless of which location it’s made at. With the commissary producing in bulk, Robles and his commissary team have full control over the ingredients, cooking times and even the precise temperature at which each item is prepared and packaged.

“For us, these [ingredients such as sauces] are better off being produced in one central location by one person coming out of one big steam kettle versus it coming out of different stock pots in each location,” Robles said. 

The model also means that Triple Beam doesn’t need a lot of restaurant space for each new location, as no room must be reserved for things like spiral mixers and deck ovens at each site. As evidence of this, Robles points to the fact that Triple Beam converted an extra 1,000-square-foot space in its commissary building into a small pickup location. 

The commissary even allows Triple Beam to operate satellite locations in non-traditional venues. For example, Robles noted Triple Beam’s recent expansion into BMO Stadium, where they serve pizza to fans at matches played by LAFC, one of Major League Soccer’s two Los Angeles-based teams. With the commissary producing fresh doughs and sauces for the stadium, the team can ensure that even large-scale events get the same attention to detail as their brick-and-mortar restaurants.

The commissary model isn’t for every brand, nor is it necessarily a good fit for every style of pizza. For example, while a Neapolitan-style chain could perhaps produce its dough balls at a centralized location, it wouldn’t be able to par-bake a crust prior to transporting it to a given location. But for, say, a Detroit-style pizza brand—or a Roman-style chain like Triple Beam Pizza—the commissary model helps ensure consistency and fuel growth. 

For Triple Beam Pizza, the commissary kitchen is more than just a production facility; it’s a foundation of the brand’s success. It ensures that every pizza is made with the same care, precision and quality, no matter where it’s served. 

“The beauty of doing a commissary,” Robles said, “is knowing how to utilize it, to make sure that it runs the way it has to in order to be successful.”