PAPA Awards 2022

In the world of pizza, pasta and Italian food, November means one thing above all else: The PAPA Industry Awards Dinner. Hosted by Theo Randall and seasoned with some Irish wit from comedian Andrew Ryan, this year’s event was a night to remember.

Winners on the night showed the diversity of the sector, with big names such as Zizzi, Tesco and ALDI rubbing shoulders with remarkable independents like Taste of Italy and Pizza Triangle. There were personal triumphs too as Nicola Jackson-Jones claimed the title of Pizza Chef of the Year and Keith Griffiths was presented with the PAPA Industry Award.

One of the early awards was for Independent Pizza Restaurant and Sergiu Teaco, owner of Taste of Italy, who explained that winning it made for an emotional night for both him and his team. “We have a passion for quality and proper Italian food. We strive to put the best on our customers’ plates as a big thanks for choosing to eat at our pizzeria so, many thanks for this award,” he said.

Zizzi were the target of some gentle ribbing from cohost, comedian Andrew Ryan – a former Zizzi employee it turns out – but definitely had the last laugh as they came away with two awards. Kathryn Turner, director of food development told us that winning the Manufactured Pizza Award (Premium Category) was especially pleasing, saying: “Retail is a fairly new omnichannel for Zizzi, born out of lockdown, with Estom, so we are incredibly proud.”

Estom’s director of business development Leighton Jones added, “We are really made up with the award, the hard work pays off!” Reflecting on Zizzi’s second award of the evening, Kathryn echoed this hard work theme in paying tribute to their team, adding: “The Italian Restaurant award means so much as it very much aligns with our Zizzi values of creating dining experiences that inspire, unite and fulfil. It has been such an incredibly tough few years for the industry and we are so thankful for all our teams for their continued support & incredible passion. It’s exciting to see what we’ve achieved together.”

Another big-name winner on the night was Domino’s whose director of procurement Ryan Whittaker said, “The Domino’s team present at the PAPA’s were thrilled to be recognised by winning the Pizza Delivery Chain award. It is testament to many people’s hard work, world class franchisee partners and some unsung heroes. We do not take accomplishments like this for granted, and we are truly humbled.”

At the other end of the scale in size, but every bit as worthy a winner is Pizza Triangle who won the Independent Pizza Delivery Store award. A thrilled Sapa Nurberdiyev told us, “Winning means a lot to us. Mainly because it shows that our hard work is recognized and appreciated, which is a huge boost to move forward and work even harder.”

One of the new awards on the night was the Italian Food Award and in the foodservice category, La Tua Pasta took the plaudits for their newly launched calamarata pasta. No stranger to success at the awards, a very pleased Bradlee Moore, design and marketing manager for the firm said, “In our endeavour to introduce only the very best and tastiest of Italian pasta to the UK, every PAPA award means the world to us - it’s a little bravissimo that energizes the team to continue innovating and sometimes ‘renovating’ - searching out rare shapes and recipes to re-introduce to the wider public! Thank you so much for recognizing our efforts - our team of pastai are super proud!”

The Convenience Store Pizza award winner was Co-op and we heard from Richard Dennett, category buying manager who said, “Co-op is delighted to win. The award is recognition for the continued hard work and efforts of the whole team over the past 12 months, which has seen our delicious, convenient pizza offer continue to grow market share in a very competitive and challenging category.”

With rail strikes, tube strikes and the challenges of employment shortages, not everyone could be at the awards dinner in person. So winning came as a surprise in other ways. For instance, William Jack, the founder of Pizza Rebellion, our Business Innovation Award winner, got the news the morning after a busy shift.

“What an amazing surprise to wake up to this morning!” remarked William. “We would have absolutely loved to have picked up our award and attended the dinner, however at this stage we are just so tiny, 100% hands on making pizzas daily so we just couldn’t swing it! We’ve worked so hard to get to this stage and it means so much to receive this recognition. It really gives us all such a boost.”

Pizza Express received their Pizza Restaurant Chain Award a few days after the awards dinner – thanks to Joe Heather at Deliverect for doing the honours – and managing director Zoe Bowley commented, “Our team of 10,000 put so much care into creating beautiful pizzas every day and we’re all delighted to be recognised.”

North West Pizza were the winners of the PAPA Community Award but owner Mark Lunn was pressed into service on the night so couldn’t collect in person. However, the moment wasn’t lost entirely as Mark explains. “Nicola from Two Cents (that’s Nicola Jackson-Jones, the newly crowned Pizza Chef of the Year, Ed.) sent over a picture of the announcement, but I was deep in service and did not catch it until after a hugely busy shift and this was a very welcome surprise.

“We work hard with our local rural communities and this award means such a lot to us. Hope everyone had a great night.”

On that note back to the night itself where Danny Scobie of Scotmid Co-operative turned the congratulations back on the PAPA team in commenting on his company winning the regional category of the Convenience Store Pizza Award. “Many thanks for the congratulations and for all the hard work involved in delivering an amazing evening,” he said, before adding, “Made even better by our win!”

PIZZA CHEF of the year 2022

Nicola Jackson-Jones wowed the panel of judges, which included celebrity chef Theo Randall, with her entries, winning not one but two categories, as well as the coveted overall title of Pizza Chef of the Year.

Her ‘Cheesy and Onion’ pizza scooped her the overall title as well as winning the Futura Foods IQF Burrata Cheese Pizza category at this year’s competition. Nicola’s ‘Triple Pep’ pizza also beat out the rest of the competition out in the Danish Crown SuperTops Pepperoni Pizza category.

Futura Foods IQF Burrata Cheese Pizza category

The Cheesy & Onion Nicola Jackson-Jones from Two Cents Pizza

Meanwhile, previous winner Dan Hall from Mozzafella claimed the prize in the Whitworth Bros New York Style category with his ‘Pie in the Sky- Classic NY Cheese Pizza’

Whitworth Bros. New York Style Pizza category

Pie in the Sky - Classic NY Cheese Pizza Dan Hall from MozzaFella

About Nicola

Nicola left her job in insurance after 18 years to open her own pizzeria, despite never previously having made a pizza from scratch. Swapping her desk job for her dream job, she bought a pizza oven but readily admits that her first attempts at pizza making were ‘awful’.

After a few months of practice however, she opened Two Cents Pizza in Ormskirk, and in 2021, Nicola made it through to the live finals of the competition, where she received a ‘highly commended’ accolade and has followed that up by claiming the Pizza Chef of the Year title in 2022.

The Competition

This year, the competition finals were held at the inaugural ‘Italian Show - Pizza Edition’ at London’s Porchester Hall. The finalists’ pizzas were judged by a panel of industry experts including celebrity chef Theo Randall, chef & restaurateur (head judge), Enzo Oliveri – chef & restaurateur, Marco Fuso – pizza chef and founder of Marco Fuso Pizza Consultancy and Michael Eyre – product director, Jestic.

PAPA director Jim Winship said, “Winners are judged on innovation, commercial viability and of course, taste, across three categories with one overall winner taking the title of Pizza Chef of the Year. This year, the standards were extremely high, but the judges were particularly impressed by Nicola’s creative skills, winning her two categories as well as the overall ‘Pizza Chef of the Year’ title.

Danish Crown SuperTops Pepperoni Pizza category

Triple Pep Nicola Jackson-Jones from Two Cents Pizza