User:Valereee/International Pizza Expo

The International Pizza Expo is the world's largest trade show for the pizza industry and one of the 200 largest trade shows in the US. It is held annually in Las Vegas, Nevada. In 2015 the expo and trade journal Pizza Today were sold by MacFadden Communications Group to Emerald Expositions LLC.

The first expo was in 1984. The expo conducts the World Pizza Games, with competitions in dough stretching, dough tossing and box folding, plus the Pizza Acrobatics, choreographed routines featuring participants tossing, throwing, and catching dough while performing gymnastics routines to music.

The expo also conducts the International Pizza Challenge, with competitions for traditional, non-traditional, pan, Neapolitan and Roman pizzas. Winners of the individual competitions participate in a bake off with a mystery ingredient for the title of Pizza Maker of the Year. The 2020 challenge anticipated 200 competitors.

The expo also features educational seminars.

According to Forbes, "a typical attendee is a small businessperson who owns 1-3 pizzerias," but they also include distributors and food brokers. There are an estimated 42,000 independent pizza parlor owners in the US. Exhibitors include pizza ingredient suppliers, vendors of point-of-sales systems, ovens and other restaurant equipment, and marketing and promotions agencies.

The 2020 show, planned for March 30 through April 2 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, was expected to attract 10,000 attendees from 60 countries and 500 to 1000 exhibitors prior to the closures during the coronavirus pandemic. The event was rescheduled for June. The 2021 show was scheduled for March 16-18.