Innovator Discusses Creation Of Portable Invention That Allows The Comforts Of A Pizzeria In The Outdoors
Kristian Tapaninaho loves pizza. He really, really loves pizza. He even admits that he is “kind of obsessed with the whole thing”. For him, pizza is universal. “It’s pretty much in every country around the world,” he says, “You can do so many different things with it. Everyone loves it!” But there’s a catch. Kristian explains, “It’s easy to get pretty good at making pizzas but it’s much harder to get really good at making pizza,” and that is exactly what Kristian set out to do.
Only along the way Kristian encountered a small problem. “I wanted a wood oven for baking authentic Neopolitan pizza but we were living in a rental and I really didn’t have the room for one. Plus I would have to invest lots of money into this huge thing that I wouldn’t be able to take with me when we left.” Rather than give up Kristian saw it as an opportunity. He explains, “I realized that I couldn’t be the only one with this problem but when I began looking around I didn’t find anything that worked. I realized I had to build something myself,” which is exactly what he did.
The Uuni portable affordable wood-fired oven is an elegant solution to that simple problem. “I had to take away the size and the cost while still creating something that would make a good pizza with that distinct wood-fired taste,” he says. Over the course of a year Kristian developed a basic design through trial and error. With his prototype in hand he decided to launch a Kickstarter campaign to see if anyone else was interested in his invention. The response was much bigger than he anticipated. “Kickstarter had just launched here in the UK and we were one of the earliest campaigns,” he states, “In fact, we were one of the first campaigns to get fully funded at Kickstarter UK and we doubled our initial goal. That’s when I knew I was onto something.”
Uuni literally means “oven” in Finnish, Kristian’s native tongue, and it lives up to its original premise. Weighing in at just over 25lbs this beautifully designed oven can be completely packed into a handy carrying bag with enough room left for your favorite ingredients. That’s right. The consumer can carry their oven to the park for a picnic or easily store it in an RV compartment. The Uuni can be unpacked, set up, and heated to over 800 degrees in less than 15 minutes, which means prep from bag to finished pizza in under a half an hour.
The Uuni uses sustainable wood-pellets as the heat source, which can be obtained at most hardware stores around the country, and the rainproof bag and stainless steel finish means it can travel just about anywhere without rusting or deteriorating over time. After cooking it takes about 30-40 minutes to cool down enough to be packed away again.
But the Uuni isn’t just for travelers and outdoor enthusiasts. True to its original intent, the Uuni is useful for people with small outdoor spaces or who find themselves having to move homes. Kristian explains, “Because of the size and the portability you can use it anywhere and then take it with you when you move or sell your house. It isn’t a permanent fixture.” At a mere 5”x14”x19” it can be used and stored easily though Kristian admits the small size often confuses people. “At trade shows people keep asking us if this is a scale model of what we are actually selling. We have to explain that this isn’t a model. It’s actually this small.”
These days Kristian has turned his original idea into a full time business with multiple employees. The Uuni is sold all over the world and has been featured in everything from Wired Magazine to Elle Décor. While making a good product and running his own business is satisfying, Kristian takes the greatest pride in some unexpected ways, “The thing that I’m maybe most proud of is democratizing wood fired cooking in a way. We’re able to reach a whole different market and affect people’s lives by enabling them to do this without the money and space. We also hear about new traditions being created. Pizza Fridays for example. It’s giving people a new kind of thing to do together…and that feels good.”
Approaching the third anniversary of the first Uuni shipments Kristian and his company are commemorating the moment by trying to give something back. “While wood fired cooking is more sustainable than many other methods we want to make sure that we’re a responsible and leave the world a better place. For the third anniversary we’re going to plant a tree for every Uuni we’ve sold and for every bag of pellets too. [So] we’re going to be planting around 10,000 trees this year.”
In the end the Uuni portable affordable wood-fired oven might be the ultimate package. Not only does it cook high-quality pizza just about anywhere but the company also has an owner that actually cares about the impact his invention has. But above all, Kristian Tapaninaho wants his customers to get really good at making pizza.
Michael Quinn
A graduate of St. Louis University in Communications with a focus in Advertising & Promotions, Michael has worked for Blue Man Group, Oito Zero Oito and Counts Media among others. His interests include DJing and Lawn Mower Disrepair.
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The Uuni Pizza Oven, which can get up to 932°F can allow the outdoor enthusiast to make stone-baked, wood-fired pizza in just 60 seconds! It can also cook flatbreads, fish, vegetables, steaks or really anything that enjoys short cooking times.