User:Micokaymak/Hakki Akdeniz

Hakki Akdeniz is the founder/CEO of Champion Pizza and also a world champion of pizza acrobatics. He currently has 10 stores in NY, with its flagship store in Soho where there are tons of plaques and gold medals from the competitions along with pictures of celebrities and newspaper articles. His journey to success, however, wasn’t an easy one. Born and raised in a big family of a desolate village in Turkey, Hakki had to make money on the stree to support his parents. Going to school like other kids do wasn’t an option for him. As he polished shoes and cooked sandwiches, little Hakki always dreamed of a better life and a bigger achievement. When he became a teenger, knowing his special talent, Hakki’s parents sent him to Montreal where his brother owned a pizzeria. Hakki quickly learned the basic technics and started running the business soon. Later on when he was 21 though, Hakki left the country and headed to New York to achieve his long time big dream to open his own store. The life in New York, however, was harder than he thought.

Hakki could not get a job- the language barrier was a big obstacle and no one took him seriously. Few days later the money ran out and Hakki ended up sleeping at train stations, and then moved to a shelter. Feeling lonely and miserable, he did not give up and patiently looked for a chance. Fortunately, weeks passed and Hakki met a Turkish guy who introduced a job. It was a menial, back-breaking labor in the kitchen of a pizaa shop, making $300.00 a week for 60 hours of work. Hakki slowly but surely carved out a better lifestyle for himself and after years of working at pizzerias, he finally opened his first store in 2008.

Hakki is currently working to make his brand Champion Pizza a franchise business. He has become popular with the flaming pizza spinning and has been on numbers of medias such as Food Network, FOX News, NY1 and other TV shows, newspapers, radio shows and a magazine cover as well. In 2017 he was part of the longest pizza project that holds the Guiness record.

Hakki’s next goal is to educate the next generation: to teach them how to cook, and to never give up dreams.