Yesterday in Las Vegas, amidst 4,000 cheering Domino's Pizza spectators, Pali Grewal won the 2012 World's Fastest Pizza Maker title. Grewal, a Domino's franchise owner from the United Kingdom, made three large pizzas in an impressive 43.9 seconds. That's making one pizza in about 14 seconds! 

Pali won $3,000 in prize money, a trophy, and the coveted title of Fastest Pizza Maker, presented by Domino's President and CEO, Patrick Doyle.

"I am elated to have retained the World's Fastest Pizza Maker Competition," Grewal says. "The more you put into the competition, the more you get out. I like to train hard and fight easy–and having won it for the first time in 2010, I had no intention of letting the title go."

The finalists represented Domino's Pizza stores from around the world. They had to hand-stretch fresh dough, sauce, and top three large pizzas–one pepperoni, one mushroom, and one cheese–as quickly as possible. 

While speed was important, it was only part of the equation in determining the World's Fastest Pizza Maker. Quality was scrutinized as two judges, highly qualified in Domino's standard pizza-making practices, inspected the stretching of the dough, application of the sauce, and portioning of toppings during the competition. 

If the pizza was not perfect, it was returned to the competitor who remade the entire pizza while still being timed.

Grewal has been with Domino's for more than 20 years. He has been making pizzas for Domino's since he was 13 years old.

Domino's began the "World's Fastest Pizza Maker" competition in 1982 to honor pizza makers who best exemplify the company's philosophy of keeping efficiency in the store to allow sufficient time for safe, timely pizza delivery.

"We are extremely excited to crown Pali as Domino's 2012 World's Fastest Pizza Maker," Doyle says. "Domino's and its franchisees employ some of the greatest pizza makers in the world. Our emphasis is on the quality of the pizza, while also using our expertise to get them made quickly.” 

The "World's Fastest Pizza Maker" competition was held at Domino's Worldwide Rally in Las Vegas and attended by nearly 4,000 Domino's team members and franchisees from around the world.