Garland, Texas, Pizza Artisan Wins Third Annual CiCi's Pizza Throwdown

COPPELL, Texas, Feb. 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- CiCi's Pizza, America's favorite pizza restaurant according to the latest national survey by Market Force, announces the winner of its third annual CiCi's Pizza Throwdown, held today in Murphy, Texas.

With artisan precision and lightning speed, Angel Roldan of the Garland, Texas, CiCi's Pizza restaurant on North Jupiter Road, stretched, sauced and baked a full buffet of perfect CiCi's pizzas, desserts and garlic parmesan knots in just 24 minutes and 9 seconds, earning him the national title. He also wins $2,500 in cash, a home entertainment center and the coveted Crystal Pizza Cutter award. The company will further honor him by putting his name on a CiCi's distribution truck that will travel more than 100,000 miles in 2013 to deliver supplies to CiCi's Pizza restaurants across the nation.

Only 21 seconds separated the top three places for an extremely tight race. Other results include:

• Second place: Maria Enriquez of Columbia, S.C., who narrowly missed the lead with her time of 24 minutes, 25 seconds, will receive a laptop computer, printer and $1,500. She also has the distinction of being tied for fastest dough stretcher with her sister, Erika, who also competed today.
• Third place: Elizabeth Cruz of Roeland Park, Kan., who won for overall quality and whose time was just 5 seconds behind Enriquez, already has a Crystal Pizza Cutter award as winner of the first CiCi's Pizza Throwdown. She wins an iPad 2 with a $50 iTunes gift card and $1,000.
• Fourth place: Erika Dominguez, of Columbia, S.C., who competed alongside her sister Maria Enriquez, will receive a Kindle Fire HD, a $50 Amazon gift card and $500.

The pizza artisans have been training all year to vie for the national title, competing in local and regional events beginning in October with a starting field of more than 200 competitors. Roldan, who has been featured in CiCi's training videos to demonstrate quality and speed, said he will use his cash prize to purchase a breathing machine for his sister who suffers acute allergies.

"Angel really demonstrated the kind of skill that makes CiCi's America's favorite pizza chain, and we congratulate him on his outstanding win," said CiCi's Pizza Director of People Development Chris Patterson. "Our annual Throwdown inspires pizza artisans at all of our restaurants to perfect their skills throughout the year, and we hope they will start training now for next year!"

Contestants hone their pizza-making skills daily at every CiCi's Pizza, where team members keep nearly 30 pizza varieties in rotation, hot and fresh on CiCi's endless pizza, pasta, salad, soup and dessert buffet. Other final results include:

• Overall competition – Angel Roldan, 24 minutes, 9 seconds  
• Best quality – Elizabeth Cruz
• Fastest dough stretching – Maria Enriquez and Erika Dominguez (tie), 2 minutes, 51 seconds
• Fastest sauce and cheese time – Angel Roldan, 4 minutes, 9 seconds
• Fastest cook time – Angel Roldan, 3 minutes, 57 seconds

About CiCi's Pizza

Coppell, Texas-based CiCi's Pizza opened its first restaurant in Plano, Texas, in 1985 and now has more than 500 restaurants in 34 states. The family-oriented restaurant, known for its endless pizza, pasta, salad, soup and dessert buffet, was named America's favorite pizza chain in the 2012 Market Force survey and has been listed by Zagat and Parents magazine as a top family-friendly restaurant. Also in 2012, CiCi's fully redesigned website was honored as an outstanding website by WebAwards, CiCi's was recognized by G.I. Jobs as a Military Friendly Franchise^®, and Entrepreneur named CiCi's to its Franchise 500 list. For more information about CiCi's, visit www.cicispizza.com or www.facebook.com/cicis.

For franchising information, contact Thomas McCord at [email protected] or 972-745-9318.

SOURCE CiCi’s Pizza