Ontario pizzeria wins top prizes at two national competitions within a week
One Ontario pizza chef is taking the industry by storm after first-place wins at two major national competitions within the space of one week.
It's been a veritable pizza party across North America in recent weeks, after the annual International Pizza Challenge brought together pizzaiolos from around the world to compete for glory, ending in some major wins for Toronto pizzerias.
Just a week later, the competition continued on home turf, with the return of the Restaurants Canada (RC) Show and its eagerly anticipated pizza competition in Toronto, followed immediately by the Canadian Pizza Summit's Chef of the Year competition in Montreal.
The mere existence of these competitions is enough to give the average pizza-lover goosebumps, but for one Ontario pizza chef, they've proven particularly exciting.
Chef Bart Nadherny, the owner and head chef at Burlington's Son of a Peach Pizzeria and The Sunshine Doughnut Co., is enjoying some particularly well-deserved praise after winning top prizes at both the RC Show and Canadian Pizza Summit, which also happened to occur within a week of each other.
Bart kicked off his pizza-centric month with a bang at the RC Show, winning the top prize — paired with a hefty $3000 payout — in the Traditional category at the RC Show on April 7.
Just a week later, the Peach team packed up and headed to Montreal for the Canadian Pizza Summit, where, once again, Bart managed to pull in a first-place finish in the Chef of the Year competition.
Both wins secure Bart a place in the 2026 International Pizza Challenge, offering him the opportunity to bring his award-winning pies to the world stage.
Son of a Peach's victories don't end with Chef Bart, though; the pizzeria's Sous Chef, Jie Yan, also pulled off an impressive third-place finish in the creative category at the RC Show. I'm not sure if it's the pizza talking, but I'm starting to crave a trip to Burlington.
"This is absolutely surreal," says Chef Bart of his double-header win. "We've always put love and creativity into every pizza we make—but to be recognized twice in one week, and now have the chance to represent Canada on an international stage, is beyond anything I imagined."
If you live in Burlington or find yourself keen to travel there for an exemplary slice of pizza, you can visit Son of a Peach at 2049 Pine Street.
