The International Pizza Expo Sports More Games Than Just Pizza Spinning

Pizza Expo attendees may be unaware, but the World Pizza Games that wrapped yesterday aren’t the only games at the International Pizza Expo. According to the Pizza Expo website, there are sixteen entertainment/game companies here at the show, including videogame heavyweight Namco.

The heydays of the video game arcade are long gone, and kids no longer hoard quarters for afternoons playing Defender and Dragon’s Lair. However, many pizza expo attendees would argue that no pizzeria is complete without a few arcade games. That’s certainly what you’d hear if you went by booth 1095 today – the booth of the American Amusement Machine Association.

International Pizza Expo Highlights from Thursday

Today also featured the International Pizza Challenge and Pizza Festiva finals (including the crowning of the 2008 Pizza of the Year) and the $20,000 MEGA BUCKS Giveaway drawing. It’s crazy that the International Pizza Expo – already a great event – can top it all off by giving away $20K to one lucky pizza expo attendee, but that’s exactly how the expo ended this year.

Time to Go Home and Recover from the Pizza Expo

So we’re putting the wraps on the 2008 International Pizza Expo. With joy in our hearts, fresh business cards in our pockets and the glorious aftertaste of primo Italian pie on our lips, we’re headed back home to the quality restaurant equipment that we love. And our families, of course, whom we love too.

Hopefully you saw us at the pizza expo and had a chance to meet us face to face. If not, well, heck, drop us a line to meet one of our restaurant equipment specialists. We’d love to chat with you about your pizzaria needs. We’ve got it all, from Eagle pizza dough racks to five-star Montague pizza ovens to Editor’s Choice Beverage-Air pizza prep tables.

Pizza Convention-eers and Folks at Home Should Enjoy This Video

This pizza convention is madness! People love their pizza as much as we love top-notch restaurant equipment like this Bakers Pride pizza oven. It’s a pizza chef’s best friend, as well as a 5-star Editor’s Choice at our website.

And here’s a prime example of the pizza convention madness.

We found video of the World Pizza Games (from the 2007 pizza convention) on YouTube. Watch and digest, preferably with a piping slice in your hands!

News Bites from the 2008 International Pizza Expo Convention in Las Vegas

Las Vegas Pizza Central, April 1, 2008 – A pizza convention? Yup, that’s where we’re at, a pizza convention! And not just any pizza convention, but the 2008 International Pizza Expo, the “largest pizza show in the world”! We’re here representing our restaurant equipment, especially our pizza-related products like Vulcan ovens, Beverage-Air pizza prep tables and Hobart mixers. It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it.

Here at the Las Vegas Convention Center, it’s all about the ubiquitous Italian pie that’s known worldwide. Today is day one of the pizza convention, a massive collection of pizza talents and pizza products with 450 exhibiting companies (restaurant equipment retailers, restaurant marketing companies, and many national and local restaurants) 1000 exhibits, 60 educational sessions, Italian Chef Wars and the Pizza of the Year throwdown (part of Pizza Festiva). We’re seeing plenty of laughs, lots of friendly chatter and business cards flying from wallet to purse to wallet like a pizza-themed paper snowstorm.

Pizza Convention Games

Another big attraction at the pizza convention are the ever-popular World Pizza Games. When you gather thousands of pizza-making professionals in one giant Las Vegas convention hall, what better than to pit the best against the best to see who can earn bragging rights for his or her restaurant or kitchen?

The pizza convention’s games are being organized by the World Pizza Champions, Pizza Today, Pizza Expo and Tony Gemignani, a six-time World Pizza Acrobat. The convention games are four in number:

• Freestyle Acrobatic Dough Tossing
• Fastest Pizza
• Largest Dough Stretch
• Team Acrobatics

Each winner of a pizza convention game wins $1000, with lesser awards for second and third place in each category.

Register to Win a Custom Hobart Mixer!

One of our favorite manufacturers, Hobart, is giving away a custom-painted “hot rod” Hobart mixer at their pizza convention booth (#4105). The Hobart mixer will be awarded on Thursday just before the $20000 MEGA BUCKS drawing. (Hobart is also the official sponsor of the World Pizza Games.)

If quality restaurant equipment stirs your blood like it does ours, you don’t want to miss out on your chance at this incredible piece of pizza-making gear. If you’re at the pizza convention, get on down to the Hobart booth!

Visit Short Order, the Home of Brand-Name Restaurant Equipment!

If you’re a restaurant equipment buyer or kitchen manager, come by the Short Order booth, number 8033, and say hi! We’re at the pizza convention, eatin’ it all up!