Recapping Pizzafest 2015

Another year, another successful Pizzafest! We’re all incredibly thankful for the people who came to support our favorite charity, and to everyone who worked to make this event happen! If you couldn’t be there yourself, well… We’re sorry. You missed out on an amazing time. But if you couldn’t make it (or even if you did), let’s recap the events of the day!

The morning of Saturday, October 17th opened with thick cloud cover and a worry of rain that thankfully never came to pass. Pizzafest crew got in early to set up tents, Pizzeria Pronto pizza ovens, and everything else the festival would feature. We had beer tents from both Lagunitas and Fieldwork brewing companies, plus Three Twins ice cream, and a kids’ crafts, facepainting, and games area.

Our in-house chef, Nick (who I’m sure most of you already know from this blog!) had actually spent the previous night at our office to ensure our Lamonica pizza dough balls were defrosted and proofed at the correct times. The entire creative wing of our office was lined with cardboard boxes filled with dough!

Folks from the Companion Group worked the festival in everything from manning our pop-up shop to actually making pizza! Sales Manager Tom Lengyel had his own team, “Grand Master Mozz and the Dough Boys.” Sales Account Coordinator Matt Lucas was the real star with a full chef’s outfit and his face on their booth’s sign!

Teams from far and wide came to compete at Pizzafest for the honor of the People’s Choice Award. Jacob and Dennis, our European distributors, traveled the farthest, coming all the way from Denmark! Their flag-covered suits let everyone know they were bringing in Danish flavor!

Hundreds of people attended Pizzafest, trying slice after slice and voting for their favorites. In the end, Life of Pie repeated their success from last year, taking home the top prize. In second was Pizza Palz, and right behind them in a close decision was Doughmance.

At the end of the day, our tired but well-fed team broke down the venue so that it could return to being our office parking lot. We lost some balloons in the process, but everyone pulled together to make sure Pizzafest ran smoothly from beginning to end.

Of course, the most satisfying part came when we gave the earnings from Pizzafest to BOSS (Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency), our favorite charitable organization. We were able to donate $8,000 so that they can continue their mission of helping the homeless, poor, and vulnerable population of the Bay Area. Our proceeds went to fund their Children’s Learning Center.

So another thank you to everyone who worked, attended, or competed at Pizzafest 2015! We couldn’t have done it without you, and we’ll see you next year!

Pizzafest 2015 Video

Check out our Pizzafest video to catch a glimpse of all the fun we had!