Tossing & Spinning Earn Pizzeria Owner Awards

By Kendra Bobowick

A little flour and touch of flare for a mound of pizza dough have earned Sand Hill Plaza pizzeria owner Marcio “Santos” Dos Santos second and fourth place awards in a contest staged in Orlando, Fla., in early September. He and his wife Elizabeth Siemon own Franco’s Pizza & Pasta.

Mr Santos said, “I’m very happy.” The win is the second this year for Mr Santos. Another competition entry, made by Ms Siemon, took the couple to Italy last spring.

Regarding the contest in Florida, Ms Siemon said, “I told him, ‘Apply yourself.’”

As a longtime chef and now restaurateur, Mr Santos feels his abilities with tossing dough come to him more easily than to others.

“I did not train; people say that I am a natural, but that’s what I do for a living,” he explained. Others in the competition had practiced their tossing techniques in preparation for the contest.

Mr Santos earned second place for the largest dough stretch at 45 inches. He also placed fourth in the fastest stretch.

The PMQ (Pizza Marketing Quarterly) Magazine sponsored the contest. Mr Santos competed as part of the United States Pizza Team.

Next on the horizon is a contest planned in Shanghai, China. Ms Siemon and Mr Santos are considering entering. The trip to Italy was also sponsored by PMQ. The magazine had opened a contest encouraging pizzeria owners to help advertise the History Channel’s program, Rome: Engineering and Empire. The couple received a call announcing that they had won.