A trip to Las Vegas can mean very different things to people. For some it’s a chance to break away from the normal grind of work, some gambling, seeing a show or two, walking the strip, or even visiting Red Rock State Park are just a few things one can do in Sin City.
But last month Vegas brought together a hard working community of people for one purpose: the celebration of all things pizza at the annual International Pizza Exposition.
The expo is the largest pizza trade show, bringing together thousands of pizza industry professionals from across the globe for three days of pizza-centered entertainment, education, and competition.
The week-long event was kicked off by keynote speaker and Michelin-star pizza chef Wiley Dufresne. His address highlighted the importance of unlocking one’s creativity by pushing the bounds of the medium you may find yourself in. Dufresne said that while it is important to understand the rules of pizza, it is equally important to bend those rules for the sake of creation.
“Instead of shrugging and moving on,” he said, “you chase the answer, you test it, and repeat it. You break it open and slowly over time that habit of investigation becomes the engine for creativity.”
From there it was off to the heart of the expo — the exhibit hall. There, hundreds of companies showed off the latest in pizza innovations, such as AI phone assistants that prevent businesses from missing customer calls, industrial and personal pizza dough ball rollers, and, of course, plenty of food vendors looking for would-be-buyers to test their products before buying them for their own stores.
The World Pizza Games
One of the main attractions of the Pizza Expo is the World Pizza Games, a competition where contestants from around the world compete head to head in skills-based pizza challenges like pizza acrobatics, fastest dough, fastest box folding, all to decide who is “best in dough.”
The winners were:
- Individual acrobatics: Francis Tolu, with a score of 415.4
- Fastest dough: Katja Korkko, who made five 12-inch pizzas in 36 seconds
- Largest dough: Matt Hickey, who stretched a pizza 98.55 centimeters before it tore
- Fastest box folding: David Whisker, who folded his box pile in 19.47 seconds
- Pizza triathlon: Matt Hickey, with a time of 37.84, who won a combined challenge of stretching, folding, and speed
The Gelato Festival World Masters Championship
In addition to the Pizza Games, the expo held the Gelato Festival World Masters Championship where, in similar fashion, 34 gelato chefs from around the world came together and presented creative flavors of gelato to a panel of judges.
There was a vast number of unique flavors, like German representative Enrico Picin’s "Mediterraneo" (a rosemary and lemon zest olive oil gelato) and Thomas Micolino’s “Kamelatte” (a camel milk gelato with lichen and smoked date honey). Both received special mentions in the competition.
But the winner was Christian Wu from Belgium and his "Il Bosco dei Cento Acri" — a Forest honey and pine infused gelato with porcini mushroom, pine cone buds, and a lemon honey sauce.
Utah pizzerias visit the expo
All of the attendee badges tell you where everyone is from, allowing pizzerias to network and share regional pizza knowledge. It also made finding the Utahns much easier.
Two were attending the expo for the first time. “It's been a great experience," said Ross Clark. He and his wife Janet are the new owners of the Pizza Pie Cafe in Layton.
Clark has an extensive career in food science and maintenance, but is a newbie in the pizza industry.
“We're going on three months,” Ross Clark said. “Started Jan. 1.”
The Clarks were at the expo looking for packaging options, potential AI solutions, and unique flavors to set them apart from other Pizza Pie locations.
“It's interesting to see how many different companies, while not specifically tailored to the pizza industry, have their fingers or hands in it, trying to see what they can do to help make your business better," he said.
Janet Clark said their goal is to be the best Pizza Pie possible — and doing that means updating the atmosphere while maintaining comfort and familiarity.
“We're fully renovating the restaurant," she said. "Putting in that ambience, that love, and creating a place for the community where people can come be comfortable, feel like that's their place to be, and just enjoy a beautiful place.”
Another set of Utahns attended the expo, though this was not their first time. Josh Vanderwerff and his wife, Zabrina are the owners of Zion Pizza and Noodle Company, a family run establishment located in Springdale, near Zion National Park.
“If you come to Zion National Park, you're going to get a little bit of a local flair," Josh Vanderwerff said. He has a deep history with his shop, which began as one of his father's business ventures. Josh was 18 when he first managed the shop.
“And that was back in 1991, I was in high school, " Josh Vanderwerff said. “And I talked him out of selling it ever since.”
In 2020, he purchased the pizzeria from his father three months before the COVID-19 shutdown. He said it was difficult to adapt to table service during social distancing requirements.
“We were counter service for all those years, and we just had to change in 2020,” Zabrina Vanderwerff said.
Even Josh Vanderwerff's father talked with him about the decision to purchase the business after the shutdown had occurred.
“It was scary,” Josh Vanderwerff said. “He even came to me crying one day. Basically, he's like, 'Do you regret it?' And I was just like, 'No, not one day.'”
Zion Pizza and Noodle made it through the pandemic, and the Vanderwerffs say they are proud of their authentic atmosphere and traditional values where human interaction, staff appreciation, and community involvement are their highest priorities.
“We went to a great presentation upstairs earlier talking about employee retention,” Josh Vanderwerff said. “It felt really good to sit there and know that 95% of their ideas we’ve already implemented.”
“We live here, we're part of this,” Zabrina Vanderwerff said. “This is our community, like we would love you to come into this restaurant.”
Attending the International Pizza Expo gives you ubiquitous access to the various branches of the pizza universe. You get to try the best of every style of pizza, discover cutting edge pizza-tech innovations, and learn hands on from experts in the industry.
One second you bump shoulders with a regular mom and pop shop owner, happy to find a new pizza peel, then the next you are bumping into a barefoot Finnish woman who made five 12-inch pizzas in 36 seconds. Everyone always had a slice in hand, and a smile on their face. Pizza truly is a global comfort food.
