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William Manzo, owner of Federal Hill Pizza Co. of Cranston, RI has been asked to join the World Pizza Champions. The World Pizza Champions™, America’s #1 Pizza Team™, are made up of founding members Michael Shepherd of Michael Angelo’s Pizza in Kenton & Rushsylvania, Ohio; Tony Gemignani & Ken Bryant of Pyzano’s Pizzeria in Castro Valley, CA; Joe Carlucci of Famous Joe’s in Danbury,CT; Siler Chapman of Si’s Pizzeria in Fort Mills, SC and Sean Brauser of Romeo’s Pizza in Medina, OH. Each member has earned the highest awards in several different categories in the pizza industry. Many pizza operators worldwide consider these professionals and pioneers to be the best pizza makers in the US.

Team members have appeared on the Today Show, Tony Danza Show, The Tonight Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, ESPN, the Food Network, Good Morning America, BBC Radio, and have been featured on numerous industry magazine covers.

They have come together to form an affiliation to promote their restaurants and their skills. Individually each of them has performed in shows across the nation, but now they plan to tour the world as a team. The World Pizza Champions™, America’s #1 Pizza Team™, perform and/or compete at numerous festivals, fairs, sporting events, and food shows year-round.

Mr. Manzo will be joining team members in Naples, Italy June 12 & 13, 2007 to compete in the First Annual World Pizza Cup. This is Manzo’s third competition but first as part of the World Pizza Champions team.

Federal Hill Pizza Co. of Cranston, Rhode Island has been accepted to compete at the 2007 “Pizza Olympics”. William Manzo, founder and owner of FHP Co. will join pizza makers and pizza acrobats from around the world at this year’s World Pizza Championships, taking place in Salsomaggiore Terme, Italy from March 26-29, 2007.

Federal Hill Pizza had its humble beginnings in the back of Mr. Manzo’s cigar lounge, formerly located on Federal Hill in Rhode Island. Aggressive growth in sales drove the need to expand the manufacturing function and brought the business to Cranston, RI. It’s from here that the company’s white and wheat pizza dough and pizza shells are produced and shipped to supermarkets throughout Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Federal Hill Pizza also touts an organic line of dough products that are sold in various Whole Foods locations.

The company’s core belief of “keeping is simple and using only the freshest ingredients” is the ideology Manzo will take to the competition in Italy later this month. This is not Mr. Manzo’s first competition; in November 2006 he traveled to Orlando, FL to compete in the American Pizza Open.

Mr. Manzo is being sponsored by Formaggio Italian Cheese Specialities, Inc.
of Hurleyville, New York. Steeped in family tradition, Formaggio Italian Cheese Specialties is a leader in the industry. It is with their support (and fresh mozzarella!) that Mr. Manzo hopes to bring home the Gold for the U.S.A.