Gung Ho!, The Tree, Eatalia, and The Rug Are Top Seeds as 2015 Pizza Cup Voting Commences
This is it – we've thrown a massive pizza party for 7,000 people. We've explored the pizza preferences of more than a dozen Beijing tastemakers. We've detailed 17 different pizza options in our Pizza Profiles series. We've encouraged you to consume via a wide array of pizza promotions. We've pre-polled 200 of you and mathematically seeded all the competitors.
Now it comes down to brass tacks as voting in the first round of the 2015 Pizza Cup is now live.
Each round, two pizza spots go head-to-head to see who garners the most love and moves on to the next round. After each round, the field gets cut in half until we're down to the champ for 2015.
Click here to vote in the first round of the 2015 Pizza Cup: www.thebeijinger.com/2015PizzaCup
Our four top seeds are all tough competitors.
Gung Ho! is the reigning overall champ from 2014, and has been getting lots of love from Beijingers in our Pizza My Mind series. They've been moving from strength to strength this year with the revamping of their Lido store and the introduction of innovative gluten-free crusts.
Te remain champ they'll need to fight off strong challenges from the likes of La Pizza, Pizza Plus, and Tube Station, as well as newcomers Bottega, Pizza View, and iFresh Pizza, in what is easily the toughest division of the Cup.
The Tree, one of the longest-running bars in Beijing and one that has been serving pizzas since most other Sanlitun bars were serving 10 kuai shots in Dixie cups, was the champion of our Bars/Cafes division in 2014.
This year they face stiff competition from Great Leap Brewing #45, the latest of the GLB empire, which has been wowing customers with their pizzas since opening this past spring.
Meanwhile, underdog The Rug, which walked away with the Upscale Dining category championship last year on the backs of their small but excellent selection of pies, hopes to repeat their victory over first-class competitors such as Sureno and Tavola.
Mid-Range Restaurant champion Eatalia's miracle triumph over the juggernaut that is Annie's in 2014 will be tough to repeat, and we'll see if they can do it again in a division bolstered with pro pizza makers such as Loft Eatalicious and newcomer Bocca Della Verita.
Here's a quick schedule of each round:
Round 1 (64 contestants): Sunday, Oct 25 to Monday, Nov 2
Round 2 (32 contestants): Monday, Nov 2 to Thursday, Nov 5
Sweet 16 (16 contestants): Thursday, Nov 5 to Monday, Nov 9
Quarterfinal (8 contestants): Monday, Nov 9 to Thursday, Nov 12
Final Four (4 contestants): Thursday, Nov 12 to Monday, Nov 16
Final Match (2 contestants): Monday, Nov 16 to Wednesday, Nov 18
Remember, to keep hope alive for your favorite, you'll need to return each round to vote for them against an ever-increasing level of competition.
Here's your full graphic of the proceedings below – click for a massive version:
Images: the Beijinger
