By Brian Hernandez
In the pizza industry, competition can be fierce, but behind the scenes, it’s teamwork that makes the dough rise. On September 14 in Charleston, South Carolina, the inaugural Lowcountry Pizza Fest will debut at The Refinery, with Mike Pitera, owner of Pizza a Modo Mio, orchestrating the action.
It’s a big project, but as a member of PMQ’s U.S. Pizza Team (USPT), Pitera won’t have to go it alone. He will have the support of USPT teammates who don’t even live in coastal South Carolina. They’re taking time away from their own busy restaurants to help make the festival’s first year a grand success—and to raise money for Slice Out Hunger, the New York-based nonprofit that supports hunger relief all over the country.
In other words, USPT members show up for each other. And the Lowcountry Pizza Fest won’t be the first time Pitera has enlisted his teammates to serve people in need. In November 2024, Pitera and USPT pal Nicholas Harper of Peace of Pie on Hartwell (located in Fair Play, South Carolina) mobilized to feed the stressed-out folks in Black Mountain, North Carolina, after a devastating hurricane.
Related: U.S. Pizza Team Event Brings ‘Normalcy’ to N.C. Community Wrecked by Hurricane Helene
Strength in Numbers
For USPT members George and Patti Taylor, owners of Taylors’ Pizza House in Endwell, New York, the decision to make the trip was about far more than just good food and Southern hospitality. It was about standing shoulder-to-shoulder with a teammate and good friend.
“Patti and I are headed down…for a couple of reasons,” George Taylor explained. “First, I thought it would be great to help out a brother on the USPT get greater publicity if more of us showed up to help. Secondly, we’ve wanted to go down and check out the Charleston area and see Mike’s pizza shops. And thirdly, it’s just fun to hang out with other people making pizzas to benefit a great cause.”
The USPT is known for competing in—and excelling at—some of the biggest culinary events in the world, from Las Vegas to Parma, Italy. But as Taylor points out, the team’s real strength lies in team members’ support for each other.
“As far as doing things together, I think it helps promote a sense of being a team,” Taylor said. “It promotes the fact that we stand together and are interested in making our communities a better place. And it shows that we are more about helping each other than just showing up at a competition.”
The Lowcountry Pizza Fest won’t just feature Pitera and the Taylors. Harper will also join the effort, along with USPT member Sean Dempsey, owner of Dempsey’s Brewery Pub & Restaurant in Watertown, South Dakota—teammates stepping out of their own kitchens to help another pizzaiolo succeed.
Related: The Hot Dog King of South Dakota: Wieners Are Winners for Pizzaiolo Sean Dempsey
Events like this also give the USPT more visibility outside of competitions. For pizza loving customers and their communities, it’s a chance to learn that the team exists not just to win trophies, but to elevate the pizza business itself.
“Anything we can do where larger numbers of U.S. Pizza Team members participate lets the world know that we are out here,” Taylor said. “Many times our customers have no idea that there is such a thing as the U.S. Pizza Team. Doing events like this gets a lot of publicity and helps promote the fact that we are out there. The U.S. Pizza Team is a group of fantastic people who want to not just grow their own businesses but help the pizza community grow and thrive.”
For the pizza industry, that’s a powerful message: Competition sharpens skills, but collaboration sustains growth. By traveling to Charleston, the Taylors, Dempsey and Harper aren’t just helping a friend—they’re reminding the world that when pizzaioli support each other, everyone wins.
Brian Hernandez is PMQ’s associate editor and director of PMQ’s U.S. Pizza Team.
