Hay River (Mar 03/03) - For pizza with the works, almost anything goes for a topping.

But frozen toppings are a definite no-no, meaning restaurants take extra precautions when delivering pizza during northern winters.

Jamie Norris of The Boardroom in Hay River steps out of the restaurant into the cold night air with a pizza to deliver. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

Hot-off-the-pizza-pan deliveries are the goal of every restaurant, even when it's a frigid -30 or -40 C outside.

"There's no point in delivering food at -40 if it's going to get cold," says James Wong, the manager of The Boardroom Restaurant in Hay River.

Wong says if the food arrives lukewarm, it simply won't taste as good.

But hot deliveries don't happen by accident.

Many NWT restaurants keep pizzas and other food hot by using special bags.

Dan Fortin, the assistant manager of Russell Food Equipment Ltd. in Edmonton, explains such food bags are insulated to keep the heat inside. The bags normally have a vinyl outside cover and a foil type of material inside to reflect the heat back towards the food.

However, Fortin says, no matter how good the bag, pizza and other food will eventually cool down.

The key is speed, he says. "It's just to get it delivered as soon as possible."

Wong is not sure how long the food bags will keep pizza and other food hot, however, he notes one of his restaurant's best customers lives in Fort Resolution, about 150 kilometres away. The man got his own food bag to bring home pizza and Chinese food for his family, and he does so almost every day.

"I don't know how warm it is," says Wong of the food when it arrives in Fort Resolution after an hour-and-a-half drive. "But it's still warm."

However, The Roost in Inuvik doesn't use insulated bags for its pizza deliveries, preferring to solely concentrate on getting the food to customers fast.

"That is the best way to get it fresh," says The Roost manager Nazim Kadri, noting it only takes a few minutes to deliver in Inuvik.

Kadri also says the heat of the insulated bags can make the pizza crusts become too soft.

Wong says, if pizzas are kept in bags too long, they can become moist. But he says that is not a concern in Hay River, where deliveries take only three to five minutes. And the colder the weather gets, the more delivery orders his restaurant receives.

Wong's explanation is people must take a while to adjust to the cold before they go out to restaurants or pick up the food themselves. Recently, there was a cold snap in the Hay River area, he notes. "The deliveries just skyrocketed."