LONDON: Crafting three in just 70 seconds, a refugee from Iraq and Domino’s employee has been crowned the world’s fastest pizza maker.
Zagros Jaff, 33, had never seen a pizza before he arrived in the UK 17 years ago, but having spent the last 15 years at Domino’s Portsmouth branch, “he has learnt a thing or two,” Metro reported on Friday.
Wowing judges and a crowd of 8,000 at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, Jaff fought off pizza makers from around the globe to claim his crown and win $3,000.
Celebrating his victory, he said: “It was a great feeling — I am so excited to have won. I practised for all these years continuously, so it was such a great moment.”
Finalists had to hand-stretch fresh dough as well as sauce and place toppings on three large pizzas.
Hitting 70 seconds required Jaff to practice twice a week for at least seven weeks prior to the competition, with his speed theoretically meaning he could produce 150 per hour.
He said had one of his pizzas not been “just a few grams overweight” he would have got it down to 56 seconds, with speed just one element as quality, sauce application and toppings’ portioning were also factored in.
Competitors were given a time penalty or risked having pizzas disqualified if they were not perfect.
Jaff has previously won awards for Domino’s manager and supervisor of the year, and won the chain’s European record three years running.
