A gastronomic establishment that isn't a pizzeria serves pizza they actually make, as opposed to buying premade pizza and just heating it up. How would they emphasize this fact in a short blurb on their website or in an advertisement? In Polish that would be "pizza z pieca", which translates directly to "pizza from oven", but that feels awkward and imprecise in English.

  • There's plenty of phrases in the answers that work perfectly well for the general case. For the specific question at hand, you might try something like: "freshly-made pizza from our own ovens" ...depending on the exact context. – tmgr Nov 16 '18 at 14:51
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    serves pizza they actually make Isn't this the expected state of affairs? I would expect an item like pizza to not be pre-bought, even in a restaurant that isn't a pizzeria. – John Gordon Nov 16 '18 at 23:27
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    @JohnGordon All sorts of shenanigans go on in the name of increasing profit margins. See, for example, this story about Pizza Express in the UK. Incidentally, I don't think your expectations are wrong - that is, of course, how it should be. – tmgr Nov 16 '18 at 23:46
  • @Fattie Artisainal is starting to become over used, for some of the silliest purposes. I'd go with 'fresh made" or 'our specialty pizza'... Something along those lines. – Wayfaring Stranger Nov 19 '18 at 2:50
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    Hey sorry for disappearing! I hope we can revive this question. You know, my question was motivated by an urgent translatory need (translating the restaurant page of a hotel website) rather than by linguistic curiosity, so we eventually chose something and moved on. But now I find this again while browsing my old questions in my free time, and it turned out very interesting! – Szczepan Hołyszewski May 4 '19 at 16:11

Nobody's suggested:

Freshly Made


Freshly Baked

so I will.

I suspect that in the US, the phrases might be Fresh Made and Fresh Baked but I'm not certain.

The term Fresh Baked has a homely ring to it and is clear that the pizza was not baked elsewhere and transported.

  • "Freshly made" is what we chose. It's short and probably the most basic/international English of all the suggestions, and basic/international was an unstated requirement. Thanks everyone! – Szczepan Hołyszewski May 4 '19 at 16:23
  • @chasly from UK: I'm curious if "fresh made" is really the same as "freshly made" in American English. Do you happen to have any sources on this? – painfulenglish Jul 3 '19 at 19:50

made in house

Another answer mentions that the French and Italian equivalents to in house are often used in English menu-ese - and the straight English version is itself used too.

In house isn't food-specific, as the following definition from Oxford Living Dictionaries shows:

in-house adjective

attributive Done or existing within an organization.

‘in-house publications’

‘Each employee receives ten days of training a year, as well as an in-house training and development programme called Jigsaw.’

‘Yet there are at least a dozen reasons why organizations still prefer in-house application development and deployment.’


The house in in-house is, I presume, the same house as we find in phrases such as house red, house speciality, full house, on the house and one sense of house rules; the relevant definition and sub-definitions from Oxford Living Dictionaries follow:

house noun


2 A building in which people meet for a particular activity.

‘a house of prayer’

2.1 A business or institution.

‘he had purchased a publishing house’

2.2 A restaurant or inn.

as modifier ‘I ordered a bottle of their house wine’

‘Food arrives at our table - not food we have asked for, but a small appetiser with the compliments of the house.’

‘We'll dine at the fanciest and snootiest drive-thru restaurants and waffle houses.’


A few food-relevant examples found in the wild follow:

From the August 2018 menu of The Grace, Bristol:

Everything made in house

There is adjectival use of the phrase in the following headline:


Foodable Network, Kerri Adams, September 2, 2017


Enter Zuuk Mediterranean.



Zuuk has all the elements that the market currently demands including variety of flavors, affordability, and fresh ingredients sourced daily and cooked in-house. All of which is in a fun and friendly ambiance.

The relevant parts of a New York Times article follow:

Made in House? Prove It

New York Times, Elaine Sciolino, July 22, 2014

PARIS — The black-and-white symbol looks like a saucepan with a roof for a lid. And if it sits next to an entry on a restaurant menu, it signals that the dish is “fait maison” — house-made.

Or does it?

A new consumer protection law meant to inform diners whether their meals are freshly prepared in the kitchen or fabricated somewhere off-site is comprehensive, precise, well intentioned — and, to hear the complaints about it, half-baked...

This article also uses the phrase house-made, which, as another answer points out, is a valid North American alternative to made in house, and not just a direct translation from the French, as I had previously mistakenly thought.

A bit of a tangent regarding homemade

Also in The New York Times article, homemade is used, as mentioned in another answer, as equivalent to made in house.

This use of home made not meaning made at home but made on the premises, strikes me as American rather than British, and there is some evidence to back that up.

Oxford Living Dictionaries defines home-made as:

adjective Made at home, rather than in a shop or factory.

Whereas the quintessentially American Merriam-Webster gives the following definition:


1 made in the home, on the premises, or by one's own efforts

2 of domestic manufacture

(I've added italics to highlight the relevant part of the Merriam-Webster definition.)

There does, indeed, appear to be a transatlantic difference here, although I imagine any British English speaker would be familiar enough with the American meaning not to even pass remark on it.

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    I see "house-made" in restaurants pretty often, and the same Oxford dictionary site cited in this answer recognizes it as "North American": en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/house-made – Milo P Nov 16 '18 at 22:41
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    @MiloP News to me! I'll delete that bit as it's clearly wrong... or - better - amend it to say that it's a valid North American English alternative. Cheers. – tmgr Nov 16 '18 at 22:43
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    While a good answer and not incorrect as a dictionary definition, you would simply never see this on a pizza shop in the US. Never. (I don't know if that's relevant to the OP, just letting you know.) – Fattie Nov 19 '18 at 3:21
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    I'd be somewhat wary if I saw "in-house" in some contexts... In the UK there are some pub-restaurant chains where some dishes are prepared (or part-prepared) centrally and delivered either chilled or frozen to establishments for final preparation (if needed) and cooking/heating. Although I can't specifically remember seeing "in-house" being used, they do tend to use somewhat ambiguous phrases like it that imply dishes were made on the premises but actually were made within the umbrella organisation. – TripeHound Nov 19 '18 at 9:38
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    i think we should all move to Italy :O – Fattie Nov 19 '18 at 10:09

The standard English answer would be "home made" (dictionary.com, which uses the example of "the restaurant's pastries"). The space is optional, so you could sell "homemade pizza".

"Maison" (French for house) is sometimes seen even in English, and an Italian restaurant may well use "della casa" ("of the house").

"From the oven" doesn't really work, as it doesn't say who made it before putting it in the oven. If the oven is a traditional wood-fired oven, that would be worth boasting about, and could be used to imply homemade as well as good quality.

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    I'm not sure "homemade" fully captures the sense intended, as in practice it contrasts with "mass produced". For example, a coffee shop can sell "homemade pastries" which aren't made on site, but rather by some other local baker and then shipped across town to the coffee shop. The pastries are homemade by the baker, but they aren't being sold on the site where they were made. – R.M. Nov 16 '18 at 20:12
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    @R.M. Strongly disagree. Merriam-Webster: "made in the home, on the premises, or by one's own efforts"; Collins: "made at home or on the premises"; plus the usual definition of literally made at home. I'm not seeing any dictionaries that support "homemade" meaning just "not mass-produced" and I would be extremely disappointed if I found a restaurant serving items that they described as "homemade" but which were actually bought in. That's the opposite of what the word means. – David Richerby Nov 17 '18 at 16:51
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    @DavidRicherby Do you accept the OED as a suitable dictionary? Definition A2 for homemade includes "handmade, not industrially produced". -- I agree that it starts to be potentially misleading, but I did specify "in practice". (Also, if we're getting technical, made in a restaurant is also the opposite of the literal meaning of the word: "made at home".) – R.M. Nov 17 '18 at 22:19
  • @R.M. OK -- don't have access to the OED from home. And, sure, "made on the premises" isn't the literal meaning but "made on somebody else's premises" is getting even farther away. – David Richerby Nov 17 '18 at 22:58
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    I still agree with @DavidRicherby as regards an unqualified "home made". When I've come across "home made somewhere else" the somewhere else is clearly specified (a cafe selling cakes made just for them by a local supplier, or even the owner offsite) – Chris H Nov 18 '18 at 7:56

If you're going for brevity, how about "pizza made here" or "fresh pizza"?

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    'Fresh pizza' should be the accepted answer. Even though it doesn't precisely capture the 'made on the premises' part, the idea of a restaurant 'not heating up premade pizza' but still getting their fresh pizza elsewhere is preposterous – crizzis Nov 16 '18 at 22:19
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    This is a great answer that's right on the money for OP's specific question... and it would be a better answer for this site if it were backed up with references. See How to Answer. – tmgr Nov 16 '18 at 23:32

A commonly used idiomatic expression is (made) from scratch.

Pizza made from scratch!


from scratch

Entirely without the aid of something that is already prepared or in existence. Refers to making something, usually food, from the raw or base ingredients or components, rather than those that have been preassembled or already partially completed.

She doesn't have time to make cupcakes from scratch, so I'm sure they're from a box.
If you want some real from scratch cooking, try Jesse's Café—it's as close to homemade as it gets.


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    Careful with that one, it's not the same. OP means the pizza was assembled and baked here. "From scratch" claims the pizza sauce is boiled from tomatoes here, the dough's flour, baking powder, salt etc. mixed together here, etc. – Harper - Reinstate Monica Nov 16 '18 at 23:49
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    @Harper The other problem with "from scratch" is it doesn't say (though it wants to imply) that it was made from scratch here (in the restaurant). It could have been made from scratch in an automated factory and delivered chilled/frozen. – TripeHound Nov 19 '18 at 9:42

"Made on premises" is common short-hand.

  • I think this is specifically North American and it would be on the premises on the other side of the pond. See, for example, the example sentences here. (That's in no way to detract from your answer, which is, of course, right.) – tmgr Nov 16 '18 at 15:02
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    Not very catchy, though – Azor Ahai -him- Nov 16 '18 at 23:38
  • This (with, as noted by @tmgr, a Br.E "the premises" modification if applicable) is probably the best for a consumer, as it cannot (as far as I can see) be misused by a big-chain marketing department who want to imply more than you get. It's quite common on UK menus to see "All food (freshly) prepared on the premises." to distinguish from chains/establishments that buy-in food prepared off-site. – TripeHound Nov 19 '18 at 9:49

I'd use "house-made" in American English.

Oxford Living Dictionaries:


North American - (of food or drink served in a restaurant, cafe, etc.) made on the premises.

Anecdotally, I've seen this frequently used in restaurants in the US to refer to food made by the restaurant. I'd expect it to be understood by a general audience to mean "made in-house", and it's a bit more versatile for use in a blurb.

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    "House-made" would sound completely wrong in British English. (The asker doesn't specify a dialect; I'm just adding information and not saying this is wrong.) – David Richerby Nov 17 '18 at 16:53
  • @DavidRicherby Thanks, I'll make it more clear that it only applies to American English. – Milo P Nov 17 '18 at 21:10
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    I have never seen this in the US – Fattie Nov 19 '18 at 3:24

If this is US, and you're talking about literally making the dough (from water, flour etc) in the shop, the actual answer is

Made fresh in store

enter image description here

that's from the only one of the large chains in the US which does so, so that's the only answer by definition [*].

(or as mentioned in the other answer, the excruciating recent "made from scratch in store")

To understand this, it's necessary to understand that in the US in marketing matters there is a war of escalation in terms in marketing.

War of escalation in US marketing terminology

Often the government gets involved. Back in the 90s they legally took over the word "organic" so that massive companies could use it legally. So when you see garbage labelled "organic" in the US now, it is not at all what anyone would consider "organic", it just meets certain requirements which lobbyists put in place. (Of course, actual farmers cannot use the term - obviously!) So actual organic farmers have to start using "biodynamic" or "farm grown" or something, so then immediately McDonalds starts selling biodynamic Big Macs, so the farmers have to go with pesticide-free, etc, so this is how the plethora of terms like "localvore" came about which are co-opted successively by Burger King.

Another one was with quality potato chips, you had like "hand cooked", which Lay's started using, so they had to go to "small batch" and then "cooked in small batches in copper kettles" and so on and on. Another one is "draught" beer (which you can .. get in cans!), so then you have "genuine draught" (which .. you can get in cans!), and so on.

Note that as I mention in the other depressing answer, "scratch made" (or just "scratch" - so, a big sign "scratch pizza") for now is a term for this in the US. (However, within a short time, this will "escalate" and you'll get frozen generic pizza food products in the supermarket with "SCRATCH" in massive letters, so that term will be gone, and ANOTHER term (perhaps .. "ingredient-stepped" or "preindustrial" or something ... I can't guess .. I use to make these up for a living but I'm too drunk these days) will have to come along, which will in time be co-opted.

[*] Note, I don't own one of those franchizes in question, so I don't know if they really, actually make dough in the morning (ie by putting flour, water etc in a large bowl), or if they just "legalezed it", if they were able to edge the meaning. (You know, like "made in America" has some legal definition along the lines "82.3% of parts assembled (may or may not include financial engineering) in plants predominately owned by subdivisions of US listed entities" type of thing. So I have no clue if that pizza chain really delivers flour in the morning and makes dough with it, but that's the language used for the putative paradigm under discussion.

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    OP here. I can't really mark this as an "accepted answer" but it is by far the most interesting one! – Szczepan Hołyszewski May 4 '19 at 16:02
  • Right, these language issues in the US are indeed fascinating. – Fattie May 4 '19 at 16:56

In (most parts of) the USA,

  • "scratch made"
  • "scratch kitchen"
  • just "scratch"

is a thing now. (I guess "from scratch" was not trendy enough.)

enter image description here

If you want the current "advertising-ism" (in the US experience) - that's it.

"Scratch pizza" would be a common sign now.

(Unrelated, you could certainly throw in "artisanal", "localvore", "hand-dived", etc.)

  • "scratch made" sounds awful to me. Like a corporate CEO decided to substitute salt in for sugar because they both 'look white'. But you're not wrong, it's 'out there', my preference would be to not encourage it. – Mitch Nov 18 '18 at 21:44
  • Hi @Mitch. I couldn't agree more. I worked in the noble profession of advertising (I mean many years ago), when Men (and, uh, Women) drank Rye and promulgated stuff like Let's Do It, Reassuringly Expensive, et al. In the US, the originally somewhat charming "business-eze" ("let's do synergy") has morphed in to a, to me, literally terrifying, catch-word black hole that destroys language (and indeed thought). The concept of artisinal no longer exists in the US, the concept itself has been co-opted by franchizes. – Fattie Nov 19 '18 at 3:24
  • Hey guys whoever edited this post. "is a thing now" is idimoatic. (it's .. a thing now :) ) Don't change it. It doesn't matter that the object is collective or group. Thanks for fixing the spelling error on "anal" !! – Fattie Nov 19 '18 at 3:56
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    It may be a thing in the US but it would be unintelligible in Britain. In fact any of those suggested expressions just sound weird to me. – chasly - supports Monica Nov 19 '18 at 18:24
