The Arla Pro Britain’s Best Pizza competition launched in 2023, with operators across the UK foodservice landscape submitting their best pizza creation in a bid to win a £5K cash prize as well as a pizza masterclass with Marco himself. After many rounds of judging, leading pizza chef and ambassador to the competition Marco Fuso visited the two finalists to try the pizza’s for himself and decide on a winner.
The competition was launched to shine a spotlight on operators focusing on pizza, taking a number of factors into consideration throughout the judging process including level of innovation, visual appeal and sustainability, with the finalists being chosen from a pool of entrants from around the UK, that were whittled down through a series of visits from a mystery dining panel.
After being narrowed down to three finalists, Flat Earth Pizza, based in East London, prevailed to take the title of Britain’s Best Pizza 2023 with their innovative Kimchi Florentina pizza. The vegetarian restaurant puts veg centre stage, encouraging visitors to reduce their meat intake without compromising on flavour. They source their ingredients locally where possible, using seasonal ingredients to reduce their carbon footprint and air miles from imported produce. On top of that they are proudly zero to landfill, turning any small amount of unavoidable food waste into fertiliser for local farms.
“As a tiny independent restaurant making pizza in our own unique style against such strong competition, I was overwhelmed to be commended by such an esteemed maestro as Marco Fuso” said Rich Baker, owner at Flat Earth. “To be awarded such an accolade as Britain’s Best Pizza is a real achievement. As a team we are very proud to receive this award as we continue to serve our Hackney community what is now officially Britain’s Best Pizza!”
Head judge Marco Fuso encourages independent operators to enter the competition next year, saying “Entering this competition is so very important for independent pizza businesses out there, offering huge exposure as well as material and content for use on social media and onward advertising”.
Donna Eaton, Head of Marketing at Arla Pro, said “The competition was designed to offer pizzaiolos the opportunity to showcase their passion and craft – we understand how much goes into this from menu design to ingredient sourcing and even oven choice, so it was important for us to acknowledge and reward the full end to end process and take the judges into the restaurants for them to experience the food first hand. Huge congratulations to Flat Earth who blew Marco away with their authentic Italian dough, we can’t wait to see what the competition brings next year!”
Arla Pro is brought to you by Arla Foods, a farmer-owned cooperative and home to leading dairy brands. We are dairy partners to chefs and foodservice businesses around the globe. Dedicated to bringing restaurants and foodservice businesses the partnership they need for success.
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