Seeds Released in 2015 Pizza Cup; Voting Begins Oct 25

After nearly 12 consecutive hours of data crunching and double-checking, the seeds are finally set for the 2015 Pizza Cup and voting is set to begin Sunday.

While much has stayed the same since last year, there’s been a sea of changes since we last conducted our annual pizza poll, in November of 2014.

A quarter of the bracket is new, led by strong showings by a fleet of new pizzamakers. One in eight were not slinging pies last year, such as Great Leap #45, Bocca Della Verita, Bottega, iFresh Pizza and Haven.

Resurgent older venues also made a dent in this year's pre-seedings, include Q Mex, Assaggi and Jazz-Ya.

To make it to the bracket is an accomplishment itself -- our own unofficial count confirmed at least 167 Beijing restaurants serving pizza (and there's bound to be more that missed our gaze). That means making into the bracket puts a place ahead of 62% of what's out there.

Alas, there isn't room for everybody, and hence 16 of last year's seeds did not make it into competition this time around.

As testimony to the strength of the pizza market, only three of our 64 starters from 2014 have gone out of business (Bang Bang Pizza, Twilight and Matta Italian Restaurant), and only one stopped serving pizza (La Dolce Vita). The rest fell out due to changing tastes and a rising tide of competition.

How we seeded the competition

To determine the 64 competitors in this year’s event, we began with the final 2014 standings, then polled the opinions of a panel of 200 pizza fans and randomly selected individuals over the past week. The two resulting data sets were averaged to come up with the final seedings.

As we did last year, our bracket is divided into four (albeit imperfect) categories: Pizza Specialists; Bars/Cafés; Mid-Range Restaurants and Upscale Restaurants.

As is our policy, we asked our panelists to make the call which category each venue belonged to. In some cases venues are not perfect fits, but in all cases we let the wisdom of the crowd be our guide.

The 16 top-ranked competitors in each were then seeded into a standard 64-team single-elimination bracket, designed to keep the stronger competitors from eliminating one another in the early rounds.

Below are lists of who's in and who's out of the bracket for 2015, followed by the seedings in each of the sub-bracket categories.

And with the hope that you'll try before you vote, we're holding the start of the vote til Sunday to give you more time to stuff your face.

There's plenty to guide you already our site -- to find out what fellow Beijingers like, check out our Pizza My Mind profiles; to learn more about some of the best pies around town, check out our Pizza Profiles series.

Finally, tune in on who's offering specials around town on our Pizza Cup promotions page here.

And don't forget to come back to open the voting this Sunday at 10am when the polls open; throughout the vote you'll find access to the ballot via this page:

http://www.thebeijinger.com/2015pizzacup

Who’s New to the Bracket in 2015
Great Leap #45 (New)
Bocca Della Verita (New)
Bottega (New)
Pizza View by Opera Bombana (New)
Park 17 (new)
iFresh Pizza (New)
Haven (New)
Casalingo, JW Marriott Hotel Beijing Central (New)
Mixs Italian Grill (new to bracket)
Tiago Home Kitchen (new to bracket)
Q Mex (new to bracket)
FA Cafe (new to bracket)
Assaggi (new to bracket).
Jazz-Ya (new to bracket).
Michael’s Place Italian Ristorante  (new to bracket)
Nasca Cafe  (new to bracket)

Who Fell Out of the Bracket for 2015
Bang Bang Pizza (closed)
Twilight (closed)
Matta Italian Restaurant (closed)
La Dolce Vita (stopped serving pizza)
Time Café (failed to make bracket)
Fuel, Langham Hotel  (failed to make bracket)
Peter's Tex-Mex (failed to make bracket)
Abella Italian Restaurant (failed to make bracket)
Papa John's Pizza (failed to make bracket)
New York Pizza (failed to make bracket)
Domino's (failed to make bracket)
Pizza Hut (failed to make bracket)
Frost (failed to make bracket)
1st Floor (failed to make bracket)
Nanjie  (failed to make bracket)
Lakers (failed to make bracket)

And now, for the pre-seedings:
 

PIZZA SPECIALISTS
1. Gung Ho! Pizza
2. La Pizza
3. Pizza Plus
4. Tube Station
5. The Kro's Nest
6. Pizza Express
7. Hutong Pizza
8. Bottega (New)
9. Pie Squared
10. Pizza View by Opera Bombana (New)
11. Pizza by LMPlus  
12. iFresh Pizza (New)
13. Flypizza & Hoodadak Chicken
14. Whale's Pizza
15. Yummy Box
16. Pizza Buona

BARS/CAFÉS
1. The Tree
2. Great Leap #45 (New)
3. Mao Mao Chong
4. Stuff'd
5. The Irish Volunteer
6. Q Mex
7. The Local Bar and Grill
8. Xian Bar
9. Ramo
10. Luga's Villa
11. The Den
12. Haven (New)
13. Sugar Shack
14. Jazz-Ya
15. Passby Bar
16. Nasca Cafe

MID-RANGE RESTAURANTS
1. Eatalia
2. Annie's
3. Vineyard Café
4. Alio Olio
5. Loft Eatalicious
6. Bocca Della Verita (New)
7. Lily's American Diner
8. Peter Pan
9. Scott's Family Ristorante Italiano
10. Grandma's Kitchen
11. Mrs Shanen's / Green Cow Cafe
12. Charlie's
13. The Veggie Table
14. Michael’s Place Italian Ristorante
15. Tiago Home Kitchen
16. Elisa's

UPSCALE RESTAURANTS
1. The Rug
2. Tavola
3. Mio, Four Seasons Hotel
4. Sureño, The Opposite House
5. Kitchen Igosso
6. Isola
7. Fratelli Fresh, Renaissance Hotel Beijing
8. Prego, Westin Financial Street
9. FA Cafe
10. Via Roma, Kempinski Hotel
11. Park 17
12. Assaggi
13. Casalingo, JW Marriott Hotel Beijing Central
14. Agrilandia
15. Mixs Italian Grill
16. Bene, Sheraton Beijing Dongcheng Hotel

Voting begins Sunday here: http://www.thebeijinger.com/2015pizzacup