Bradley Johnson
Mellow Mushroom Chattanooga’s own pizza spinner, Bradley Johnson, has returned home to Chattanooga after placing seventh in the world in freestyle competition and 11th in the dough stretch competition during the 23rd annual World Pizza Championship with the U.S. Pizza Team last week in Parma, Italy.
More than 600 competitors faced by slices of pizza in front of an international jury, composed by more than 30 judges. The World Pizza Championship bring hundreds of competitors from over 30 Parma countries every year to the food valley of Italy to compete for the title of best in the world in 10 categories of competition.
Last year Mr.
Johnson reclaimed his spot on the team during the American Pizza Championship in Las Vegas. Mr. Johnson placed first in the freestyle competition. He also placed second in both the largest dough stretch competition and the fastest pie making competition.
In 2012 Mr. Johnson made the U.S. Pizza Team, finishing third in the nation, and competed for the first time at the World Pizza Championships in April 2013. He has won two silver and gold medals in the largest dough competition, three bronze in the fastest spinner competition, and two silver and gold in the acrobatics competition.
Mr. Johnson is a Red Bank resident and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga accounting student, aside from being a decorated pizza spinner. Mr. Johnson credits his pizza spinning talents to his dad. He said, “I got into pizza spinning by a challenge from my dad that I could never spin a pizza, competing just became natural with my drive to improve my skills that have delve loped over the years. Plus it has become a hobby that is really hard to get bored with when there is always something new to learn.”