What happens when two pizza-obsessed friends from Hamilton, Ontario, chase their dream—and end up winning the world’s best cheese pizza title in Las Vegas?
In this episode, we visit Cowabunga Pizza in Hamilton, Ontario, where Andy and Justin took the pizza world by surprise by bringing home first place for best cheese pizza at the 2024 Las Vegas Pizza Expo. From humble beginnings during the pandemic to serving slices with fried chicken, peanuts, and pineapple, they’ve built something truly unique. We dive into their dough process, the challenges of competing on the world stage, and why their approach to pizza (and business) breaks all the rules.
Highlights:
0:00 – Can the best pizza really come from Canada?
0:14 – Winning the 2024 World Cheese Pizza Championship in Las Vegas
0:45 – Inside the dough room: sourdough starter, hydration, and fermentation secrets
3:02 – The chaos of traveling to competition with missing dough, sauce, and cheese
4:20 – How Andy and Justin first connected over their passion for pizza
5:29 – Opening Cowabunga right as the pandemic hit
6:39 – Why they don’t take themselves too seriously and experiment with toppings
7:22 – Breaking pizza “rules”: peanuts, fried chicken, and pineapple on the Cowabunga pie
8:51 – Sauce secrets: balancing tradition with their own twist
10:44 – Pepperoni Plus: pickled jalapeños, spicy honey, and Canadian cheese
12:27 – Why they use pizza screens (and why it’s controversial)
15:36 – Tasting their world-famous cheese slice + garlic dip
17:46 – Reflections on growth, expansion, and “what good dough really means”
Check them out:
https://www.cowabungapizzeria.ca/
https://www.instagram.com/cowabungapizzeria/?hl=en
Thank you to our show sponsors:
Bacio Cheese:
https://bit.ly/3FmQ3up
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Shot by Marlin Mack
Edited By Valentine Phelippeau
Topics:
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