Michael Androw, owner of the bustling E & D Pizza Company in Avon, has long been known for his old world pizza and family recipe crust, but now he’s also made his mark on the world pizza stage.
Androw is part of the World Pizza Champions, a non-profit philanthropic organization of pizza experts from around the country and world.
On Jan. 21 they set a Guinness World Record for the “World’s Largest Pizza Party.”
In the process, they raised a lot of dough to benefit Make-A-Wish Oklahoma, which grants wishes to critically ill children. The event raised $42,090 for the organization, and that’s scores of wishes to be granted, an official said.
The “pizza party” – in the planning for over a year – perhaps wasn’t as relaxed as a typical pizza gathering. There were firm rules set by Guinness World Record and monitors everywhere to assure the rules were followed.
But Androw and the rest of the team did it at a University of Tulsa football game against Tulane University.
At this “party” – held at a stadium because of the crowd potential – 3,357 people each was served two slices of pizza and a water bottle.
That’s about 900 10? pizzas, he said.
Participants had 15 minutes to finish eating.
Androw said the previous record had been set in Rome for a little over 1,000 people.
“It was quite the logistical show,” said Androw, on that portion of the team. “It’s one of those things where you don’t want anything to go wrong and it didn’t. It was a charmed day.”
The pizza was made at restaurants in Tulsa, packaged and brought to the stadium hot. Folks at the pizza party signed up ahead and the event was heavily promoted in Tulsa.
They raised money through donations at the stadium and Androw said one of the most touching moments was when the president of University of Tulsa walked up to the announcer to whisper that he would match every donation.
But the most touching part for Androw was seeing all the children involved in Make-A-Wish and their families.
“As a parent of two young boys, when you see a child who’s sick, it really hits home when you see the children at the event,” he said.
Androw has two healthy sons, Enzo, 12 and Dario, 9. The E and D in the pizzeria’s name are their initials.
Androw said he started making pizzas at 15, beginning in his grandparents’ famous “Downtown Bakery” in New London.
To this day he makes the traditional thin crust pizza using 48-hour cold rise dough.
Androw began as an official pizza maker in 1986 and worked his way through the restaurant industry before returning to his pizza roots, opening E & D Pizza Company in 2014.
