By Rick Hynum and Charlie Pogacar
Lead photo by Harjinder Singh. Other photos courtesy of featured influencers

What is a “pizza influencer,” anyway? A pizza loving foodie with an army of followers on social media? A pizza chef or pizzeria owner with a “brand name” whose every move commands attention online or off? A food critic, podcaster or blogger who covers the pizza space? A goodwill ambassador for the industry?

It seems like a simple question, but it’s not, because there’s no single, concise answer. For the purpose of this list (which, as you’ll note, is not ranked), here’s what we decided: A pizza influencer can be any or all of the above. That covers a lot of ground, so we’ve narrowed it down a bit by choosing 20 standout influencers, particularly those who are making a positive difference in the industry as a whole. Granted, one of them is, well, controversial (but there’s no denying his firepower), while others will humbly deny that they’re influencers at all. And, yes, some probably deserved to make the list but didn’t. Our list, our call!

Ariana Klugiewicz and Kyle Bone
@committedtothepizza (Instagram and TikTok)

Klugiewicz and Bone are so committed to the pizza, they’re traveling by RV all over the country—and Canada—to eat more of it. Back in 2020, they spent their first date hiking in the Appalachians, only to get caught in a storm. “We coaxed each other through by pretending there was a Cicis Pizza just over each ridge, saying, ‘We’ve just got to stay committed to the pizza,’” Bone recalls. In July 2021, the lovebirds started shooting videos of their conversations about pizza while dining out. “We eventually ran out of pizza in our town, and our lease was coming up,” Bone says. “We decided to sever our ties with suburbia and sell most of our belongings.” They’ve been “chasing pizza” ever since, working their day jobs on the road while discovering new pizzerias. “We try to share the details in such a way that they could be objectively understood by the viewer to help determine if it’s something they may like or not,” Klugiewicz says. Even when they’re not impressed with a pie, the couple’s joy of discovery is infectious—and their chemistry downright electric.

Dave Portnoy
One Bite Reviews

Love him or hate him, Portnoy cannot be excluded from any list of pizza influencers. He is who he is, and who he is, for the purpose of this article, is a major force. A high score—or even a pretty good one—from El Presidente guarantees a jump in business overnight. Give him a little attitude, and he’ll give it back in spades and punish you with a terrible score. Then watch your Yelp rating plummet. But, mostly, Portnoy focuses on the positive in his reviews and champions local pizza businesses with genuine—if blustery—conviction.

Simone Hanlen
@nycmuncher (Instagram and TikTok)

The athletic Hanlen has been running (literally) to find the “most notable” pizza in every ZIP code in New York City—and we’re talking 200-plus ZIP codes. She’ll tell you how many miles she ran to get there and what she loved about the pizza and other menu items, with mouthwatering visuals, all in under a minute. Every video is informative, engaging and polished to a shine. But why the most notable pizza? Why not the best? “I do try to find the best pizza in each ZIP code, but that isn’t possible in all of them,” she says. “Some examples of what ‘notable pizza’ could mean: the largest slice, the lowest-rated slice, the most unusual location—like in a subway—or sometimes, the only pizzeria in a ZIP code.” Even so, she has her favorite spots, like Kesté, Lucia of Avenue X, Mama’s TOO! and Pizza Fenice. “I’ve learned so many unique things about New York City that I wouldn’t otherwise know,” Hanlen says. “For example, there’s this neighborhood called The Hole [on the border of Brooklyn and Queens]. It’s called that because it’s below sea level. Pretty much nobody lives there because it’s really dangerous. It’s known as a place where the mob used to dump bodies because it constantly floods. So I was, like, ‘Oh, I can’t wait to run to this place. There must be a pizzeria.’ And there is. There’s one pizzeria: It’s a Chuck E. Cheese.”

Keith Lee
@keith_lee125 (TikTok and Instagram)

With more than 16.5 million followers on TikTok alone, this former MMA fighter orders all types of food to go and usually reviews it from the front seat of his car (complete with random close-ups and hilarious asides). We categorize Lee as a pizza influencer for two reasons: He partnered with Pizza Hut last spring to raise funds for a pair of underserved public schools that he and his wife, Ronni, attended as kids, and his glowing review of Frankensons Pizzeria likely kept the then-struggling Las Vegas eatery from going out of business in early 2023. The Keith Lee Effect, as the saying goes, is real.

Alexandra Mortati and Stephanie Swane (@womeninpizza)
Women in Pizza

Founded by Mortati and bolstered by Swane’s Instagram Live interviews with talented pizzaiolas, Women in Pizza isn’t really about Mortati and Swane at all. They’re putting pizzaiolas center-stage on social media after nearly a century spent in the shadows of their husbands and sons. If you’re a female pizzeria owner or chef, they’ve probably spotlighted you already or are planning to—or just haven’t discovered you yet. After all, to paraphrase Katy Perry, pizza is a woman’s world, and we’re lucky to be living in it.

John Arena (@johnnypizzaguy)
Metro Pizza and Truly Pizza

Arena wouldn’t call himself an influencer—he’s too humble—but pizza makers worldwide look to the Brooklyn native as a source of inspiration and wisdom. He has baked pizza for three U.S. presidents, taught courses on pizza culture at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and trained aspiring pizzaioli who went on to open restaurants around the globe. But in the pantheon of American pizza gods, Arena is one who doesn’t need your reverence. He just wants to feed you and send you home happy.

Salvatore Mandreucci
@sallyslices (Instagram, TikTok and YouTube)

You can’t get more Jersey Italian than the celebrated pizzaiolo at Marcello’s Pizza Grill in Hamilton Square, New Jersey, who boasts more than 4.2 million TikTok followers and 1.7 million fans on Instagram. He’s also part philosopher, part skit performer and part life coach. Every pie—available for nationwide shipping and made in the Corleone style that originated in Corleone, Sicily—comes topped with little nuggets of wisdom, and most Reels and videos end with the same three words: “I love you.” But when a gang of thugs tries to stir up trouble (as depicted on a wildly funny August 10 Reel), the tall, rangy pizza guy wields his peel like an enforcer, backed by former pro wrestler A.J. Befumo and a fearless kid known as “The Rizzler.” A melee will ensue. Sal and his boys will “bring the BOOM!” Then it’s peace out time again.

Eidref Laxa
What’s Good Dough (podcast)

It’s your boy, Eidref! Laxa started his popular pizza podcast in early 2020 because he wanted to learn more about pizza making—and maybe start his own pizzeria one day. So why not learn from the best? He has done just that over hundreds of episodes that comprise an ongoing master class in pizzeria operations. He picks the brains of luminaries like John Arena, Tony Gemignani and Dan Richer as well as emerging pizzaioli from across the country, bringing us all closer together not just as an industry, but as a community.

Nicole Russell
Pizza Wars and Last Dragon Pizza

Russell named her now-famous restaurant, located in Rockaway, New York, after her favorite movie, The Last Dragon, a martial arts classic. But you probably also know this dynamic and innovative chef from First We Feast’s Pizza Wars on YouTube, where the good-natured Russell has matched pizza making chops with luminaries like Wolfgang Puck, Giorgia Caporuscio and Mark Iacono. In an industry where Black women rarely get a foothold, Russell has blazed a trail for others to follow.

Scott Wiener
Scott’s Pizza Tours

He calls himself a pizza enthusiast, but we call Wiener an influencer—without reservation. For a guy who doesn’t own a pizzeria, he’s a legit expert on the craft and a go-to source for the national media. As a pizzeria tour guide, he has introduced hundreds of thousands of tourists to life-changing food experiences around New York City. Not to mention that he’s the founder of Slice Out Hunger, which rallies independent pizza shops to serve people in shelters and soup kitchens all over the country. Inspiring others to do good—can there be a more positive influence(r)?

Tony Gemignani (@capopizza)
Tony’s Pizza Napoletana, Slice House and others

He’s often called the GOAT, and we’re not arguing. Few, if any, pizza chefs can match San Francisco-based Gemignani’s achievements. From author of bestselling cookbooks to dough spinning world champ to the founder of a whopping 10 different pizzeria concepts, he keeps polishing his resume every year, it seems, most recently catapulting Slice House to new heights as a franchisor. He’s certainly the most famous American pizza man who’s not nicknamed Papa John—and he’s a lot less prone to sticking his foot in his mouth.

Jim Mirabelli (@nepapizzareview)
NEPA Pizza Review

With a cross-platform presence that educates and entertains more than 60,000 followers—plus the readership on his popular NEPA Pizza Review blog—Mirabelli is Northeast Pennsylvania’s pizza ambassador to the world. He reviews small, independent pizzerias that few outside the region have ever heard of, and he delights in every new discovery. What he loves most, though, is helping boost each restaurant’s business (if he’s unimpressed with their food, you’ll never hear him say so). Although he’s a public school business administrator by profession, Mirabelli is a pizza guy at heart—and it shows in every post.

Sofia Arango (@latinosenpizza)
Latinos en Pizza

This Venezuela-born changemaker found true love with Italian master pizzaiolo Alessio Lacco in, of all places, Atlanta. As founder of Latinos en Pizza and a fast-growing Instagram account of the same name, she’s giving her fellow Latinos a voice and a platform to prove their skills and value to the industry. The couple, owners of Atlanta Pizza Truck, also created Latinos en Pizza Day, celebrated for the first time this year on September 15. “Most of the kitchen staff in a lot of restaurants is Latino,” Arango says. “But, normally, the face of a restaurant is not that of a Latino person.” Latinos en Pizza “gives us this platform and the possibility to showcase people that maybe don’t usually have that possibility in their life.”

Christy Alia
@realcleverfood (Instagram)

A baker, consultant and instructor, Alia founded Women’s Pizza Month in March 2021 and took it viral this year in a team-up with Stanislaus Foods and Corto Olive Co. That partnership created five scholarships for women to attend Pizza University, plus a “For the Love of Pizza” kit for home pizzaiolas. Alia created Women’s Pizza Month, she says, because female pizza makers “were often overlooked, despite being pioneers in the artisan and pizza renaissance movements globally. This observation, coupled with the common underrepresentation of—and sometimes even disbelief in—women pizza makers was both heartbreaking and unacceptable to me.” For the inaugural Women’s Pizza Month and ever since, she has challenged all pizza makers to create a pie, name it after a woman who inspired them and share it on social media. In April, she also developed her own pizza style, called Pincho, a gorgeous pie blooming with crunchy florets of pinched crust around the edges. If that’s not influential, we don’t know what is.

Marc Schechter
@pizza (Instagram)

Schechter, owner/operator of Square Pie Guys in the Bay Area, started running the powerhouse @pizza account through sheer serendipity. While growing his Detroit-style brand, he was thrilled when @pizza shared one of his videos. He later learned that the account’s manager, Jason, was an old hockey pal from childhood. When Jason decided to walk away, he put Schechter in touch with the account’s owners. Schechter insisted that someone in the pizza business should run the account, and they agreed. His first order of business was to post Reels from some of his favorite pizzerias. Almost immediately, the account began to gain newfound momentum—Schechter says he has doubled @pizza’s following from around 600,000 to 1.2 million in two years. But he admits that, while getting your content shared on @pizza is “a big deal…it’s not going to change your business….I think there’s this perception that [it will boost traffic]. But it’s mostly just consumers or people who are just, like, trolling. They’re not about to buy your pizza. It’s nice, but there’s no intent.”

Giuliana Calascibetta
@pizzaprincessg (Twitch) and @giulianacalascibetta (Instagram)

The charismatic upstate New Yorker from Cam’s Pizzeria has been dazzling her ever-growing base of 179,000 Twitch fans (plus 182,000 on Instagram) since the early days of the pandemic. If she wasn’t the first operator to livestream on Twitch from a pizza shop—and we think she was—she’s certainly the most famous and beloved. In May 2024, Pizza Princess G celebrated 100 weeks of the Crazy Slice (think baked beans, M&Ms and tuna melt), along with her sister, Bianca, Cam’s marketing wizard. Cut her loose at TwitchCon in San Diego every year, and watch Calascibetta represent the pizza industry with humor, infectious joy and never-met-a-stranger warmth.

Juan G. Perez
@juangpizza (Instagram, TikTok and Facebook)

Now the executive chef at Boston’s Posto, Perez immigrated to the U.S. from his native Colombia as a teenager. In 2009, he landed a job in the dish pit at a California Pizza Kitchen store but was soon manning the oven. When he later started his Instagram account, the platform didn’t even support video yet. On-camera, Perez is a man of few words—he lets his beautiful pies do all the talking. But with a combined 886,000-plus followers on three platforms and a Gozney ambassadorship under his belt, Perez proves every day that Latinos bring skill, flair and a tireless work ethic to any pizza kitchen.

Arthur Bovino
Pizza Pod Party (podcast) and @nycbestpizza (Instagram)

As executive editor of the Daily Meal, Bovino turned the world on to pizza list making with his “101 Best Pizzas in America” guides. Now it seems like every media outlet has followed his lead, but Bovino moved on. He’s currently Ooni’s pizza editor-at-large and, with his podcasting pal Alfred Schultz, coaxes celebrities (and real experts) into lively discussions about pizza. One example: author George R.R. Martin of Game of Thrones fame. “Maybe the Valyrians had pizza, I don’t know,” Martin said in a June episode of Pizza Pod Party. “In winter, there would be nothing on it…because it lasts nine years and they run out of food.”

Stephen Winters
@ThePizzaHulk (Instagram)

When Stephen Winters decided to launch an Instagram account dedicated to New Jersey pizza, he looked to the Marvel universe for inspiration. Winters, who named his son, Logan, after Wolverine, dubbed the account The Pizza Hulk. “I always say, Marvel might come for me if the account gets big enough,” Winters says. “But that will just mean that I’ve made it.” @thepizzahulk has little to do with comic books, though, and everything to do with the thin-crust Jersey bar pies that have been a staple of his life. He doesn’t claim to be an expert, just a guy who loves New Jersey, pizza and a good discussion on just about any topic—which is why he recently started a podcast, Smashing Slices. Winters also makes ice cream part-time at Holsten’s, the iconic restaurant where the final scene of The Sopranos was filmed. Winters’ opinion: Tony didn’t get whacked.

Colin Caplan (@tasteofnewhaven)
Taste of New Haven

Caplan not only authored Pizza in New Haven, a love letter to one of the country’s fastest-growing pizza styles, he also co-hosts “The Pizza Files” segment on WTNH’s CT Morning Buzz. That’s when he’s not providing citywide pizza tours or leading a statewide movement to name New Haven the nation’s pizza capital. His latest project: the A-1 Toyota Apizza Feast, a partnership with Napoli Foods held on September 13 in New Haven. It included the first-ever Pizza Pie Relay Race—carrying a full pizza box, teams of contestants had to run a course through the city’s streets without dropping it. With 35,000-plus followers on Instagram (@atasteofnewhaven), Caplan is the city’s tireless ambassador of apizza to the world.   

Rick Hynum is PMQ’s editor in chief.
Charlie Pogacar is PMQ’s senior editor.