The Return of the Porcupine Ridge Pizzeria Challenge

It’s back! South Africa’s favourite food competition

The Porcupine Ridge Pizzeria Challenge - returns for a fourth outing to find out who is South Africa's favourite pizzamaker as voted for by consumers.

In last year’s hotly contested competition, the top spot was reclaimed by the 2021 winner, Gino’s of Robertsham, having lost out in 2022 to Ferdinando’s, one of Cape Town’s most popular pizzerias.

A Johannesburg institution, Gino’s also celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2023, a fact which made their victory all the sweeter! “It was a tremendous validation of what we do, which is to provide delicious Italian food made with passion and which is good value-for-money. What makes the win even sweeter is that the competition is voted for by the public, so it proves that we are doing the right thing for our customers,” said owner Gino Mazza.

The other restaurants who made it into the top 10 included Osteria Rossa (Bedfordview), Gino’s (Stellenbosch), Ferdinando's (Observatory, Cape Town), Mooiuitsig Kombuis (Groot Brakrivier), Piccola Rossa (Edenvale), Corlie’s Italian (Somerset West), Julia’s Eatalian (Potchefstroom), Lucio’s Pizzeria (Northcliff) and Enzo Pizzeria Trattoria (Scottburgh).

Says Porcupine Ridge spokesman Lynton Kaiser: “Last year’s competition was a real ding- dong battle and the rivalry, while fierce, was also very friendly. We had close to 100 eateries challenging each other for the top prize, including competing sisters, competing brothers, brand new establishments and 40-year old restaurants, all of whom made it into the top 10.

“What was also wonderful about last year’s challenge was the provincial representation of restaurants taking part. We had establishments in almost every province in the country participating which made it a truly national competition. It was also great to see restaurants in places like Groot Brakrivier, Potch and Somerset West doing so well.”

The good news is that while most of last year’s challengers have entered the challenge again this year, there is also a raft of newcomers eager to elbow the favourites out of the way.

“We are confident there’ll be more entrants this year and the competition will be even more intense while still remaining loads of fun,” adds Kaiser.

The rules stay the same, with the public voting for their favourite local pizzeria via a dedicated website. The restaurant with the most votes will be crowned South Africa's favourite pizzeria, picking up the ultimate bragging rights as well as wine and marketing collateral to the value of R40 000. A new introduction this year, sees additional prizes for all of the top 10 restaurants, each of which receive R1,800 in vouchers plus three cases of wine to award to their top, Porcupine Ridge-selling servers.

In addition, consumers, voting for their favourite venue, can win a weekly prize of six bottles of Porcupine Ridge wines and an EarthFire pizza accessories, with one lucky voter selected Grand Prize Winner at the end of the competition and receiving an EarthFire Tabletop Pizza Oven, pizza for a year from their favourite pizzeria (to the value of R2 000) and five cases of Porcupine Ridge Wines, for a combined value of R10 000.

The competition kicks off on September 1 with the last day of voting being October 31 and the top 10 announced in mid-November.

Restaurants interested in participating in the Porcupine Ridge Pizzeria Challenge should contact their local Vinimark reps or email clarissa@boekenhoutskloof.co.za.