TTHENAAGO/NAHANNI BUTTE - While some communities have Boston Pizza or Pizza Hut, residents of Nahanni Butte turn to the Charles Yohin school when they want a slice of pizza.

Roughly every other week the students in Grades 6-9 transform into chefs and offer their services as the Charles Yohin Pizza Company.

Kiyana Betsaka, left, and Lory-Ann Bertrand put together a batch of pizza dough for the Charles Yohin Pizza Company. - photo courtesy of Anna McLennan

Although the pizzas are just a fundraising effort for the school, the production is run just like a professional pizzeria, said principal Wayne Ingarfield.

The company kicks into action on Fridays. In the morning one of the students phones all of the school's customers in the community and asks if they'd like to place an order.

Customers can choose their toppings and the size of their pizza just like at a real shop, said Ingarfield.

The students then break into their assigned tasks with some making the dough while others slice and chop up all of the pizza toppings.

The pizzas are put together using an assembly line production style. All of the orders are written on a board and the pizzas are checked off as they are made.

The finished products are delivered uncooked door to door and customers can put them in the oven when they like, said Ingarfield.

The company's record is 30 pizzas made in one day but that pushed the boundaries of their production capabilities.

The pizzas are wildly popular in the community. Residents often phone the school to check if it's a pizza week, he said.

"Just about everyone orders pizza," said Ingarfield.

The students themselves don't mind the effort.

Each student has a specialized task that they've taken on. Among the most important are the dough makers.

"Without good pizza dough you're sunk," Ingarfield said.

The honour of making the dough currently goes to Lory-Ann Bertrand and Kiyana Betsaka. The two girls inherited the positions from their older sisters, who were the dough makers before they left for high school.

"I like doing it," said Bertrand.

The secret of the dough comes from an Ingarfield family recipe, said Betsaka. The girls do all the steps of the dough-making process starting from scratch. It's not all easy, said Betsaka.

"It's really hard to knead because it gets thicker," Betsaka said.

Making the pizzas is a good way to raise money, said Mindy Tsetso, who looks after putting the toppings on the pizzas and tidying up during the process.

Along with cooking skills, the pizza company also teaches the students basic business skills.

One year the company was run like a business. Students had the option of buying shares at the beginning of the year for $12.

The money was used to buy the initial supplies for the pizzas.

At Christmas and again at the end of the year the profits were divided among the shareholders.

"Some of them did really good," said Ingarfield.

At the final division some of the students got approximately $200 from their initial investment.

Last year the profits were divided up among the students to use as spending money during their year-end trip to Vancouver.

This year the plan for the profits hasn't been finalized, but it might be used for a trip to the Liard River hotsprings, Ingarfield said.