Michael is married to Christina LaMarca and they have 2 beautiful girls
together, Francesca (8) & Sophia (5).
Experiences & Education:
*Graduate of Strongsville Senior High School ‘97
*1997-2002 Majored in Business & Education at Cleveland State
*1994-2001 Started working at Gina’s Pizza in Strongsville, OH
*1994-At the age of 15 and became manager at the age of 17
*2001-2014 Family purchased Master Pizza in Mayfield Hts.
*2012 Opened second Master Pizza location in Chagrin Falls
*2013 Started Master Pizza Franchise Group, LLC and
currently have 11 locations.
Major Awards & Recognition:
*2012 Placed 2nd Place out of 75 pizza makers from across the country at N.A.P.I.C.S. Pizza Competition
*2013 Winner “Best Non-Traditional” Division at the International Pizza Challenge at the International Pizza
Expo in Las Vegas
*2013-2015 Cleveland Magazine’s winner of “Best Pizza” in the “Best of the East” edition
*2013 Has appeared & moved up on Pizza Today’s “Hot 100 Pizzerias in America” placing as high as 69th place
*2014-2018 Member of the United States Pizza Team & competed at the World Pizza Championships, Parma, Italy
*2014 1st Place Winner for “Best Pizza in America” at the United States Pizza Team Trials - Chattanooga, TN
*2014 & 2015 Cleveland Magazine’s Silver Spoon Award Winner for “Best Pizza in Cleveland”*2015 2nd of all Americans atthe World Pizza Championships in Parma, Italy in 3 divisions - Pan, Pizza a Due & Classico
*2015 1st Place Winner for “Best Pizza in America” at the United States Pizza Team Trials - Oxford, MS
*2015 Placed 3rd in the World at the World Pizza Championships in Shanghai, China
*2016 Placed 8th in the World Pizza Championships for Pizza a Due in Parma, Italy and 2nd of all Americans in Triathlon
*2016 1st Place Winner for “Best Pizza in America” at the United States Pizza Team Trials - Chicago, IL
*2017 1st Pace Winner For “Best Pizza in the World” at World Pizza Championships in Shanghai, China.
United States Pizza Team:
*2014 Joined the United States Pizza Team
*2014 Competed with the U.S. Pizza Team at the World Pizza Championships in Parma, Italy
*2015 Competed with the U.S. Pizza Team at the World Pizza Championships in Parma, Italy
placing 2nd of all Americans in 3 divisions, Pan, Pizza a Due & Classico
*2015 Named to the United States Pizza Team Advisory Counsel
*2016 - Current - Elected Captain of the United States Pizza Team
Industry Accomplishments:
*Featured several times in articles, interviews and Q&A articles in PMQ
Magazine and Pizza Today Magazine
*Featured on PizzaTV.com for several cooking segments
*Featured on PMQ.com's “Spotlight on Pizzeria”
*Have been featured and interviewed several times in Pizza Today
*Master Pizza has been selected by Pizza Today to run the International
Pizza Challenge at the International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas since 2016
*Featured panelist at the Western Pizza Summit in Denver, CO with the Pizza Think Tank
*Host of the Annual U.S. Pizza Team National Pizza Trials
*Inducted into the Pizza Hall of Fame in 2014
Michael P. LaMarca is a 4X National Pizza Champion and a
1X International Pizza Champion
Cover of PMQ Pizza Magazine - September, 2017