Pizza Brain is a pizza culture museum and

pizzeria A pizzeria is a restaurant focusing on pizza. As well as pizza, dishes at pizzerias can include kebab, salads and pasta. Many pizzerias offer take-away, where the customer orders their food either in advance or at the restaurant and then take ...

based in the

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. It is home to the world's largest collection of pizza memorabilia and collectibles. Pizza Brain’s headquarters is currently in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia.

History

In May 2010, Kensington-based artist Brian Dwyer, along with Christopher Powell, organized "Give Pizza Chance"—

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

's first pizza-based art show—in which pizza was served as the muse for more than 25 artists who displayed their work at a local gallery. In October 2010, Dwyer met Carter at Circle of Hope's (a local church) annual mapping meeting. Dwyer shared his enthusiasm for collecting pizza-related objects with Carter. Carter's background led him to suggest the idea of presenting the items in a museum format. In late Fall 2010, Joe Hunter, a pizza chef from South Carolina, joined Carter and Dwyer. By January 2011, a master carpenter, Ryan Anderson, helped to identify a pair of buildings in the Fishtown section of Philadelphia in which to locate their project. Hunter started working on Pizza Brain’s pizzas and flavor profiles. Carter provided curatorial direction to Dwyer’s collection and developed the business’ model, determining its long-term focus on social media. Anderson made use of reclaimed and found materials in his design. Together, they curated the world's largest collection of pizza related items, earning them a Guinness World Record by Summer 2011. On September 7, 2012, Pizza Brain opened its doors to the public.

Guinness World Record

In preparation for the opening of Pizza Brain, Carter and Dwyer submitted their collection to be adjudicated by

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

. On July 31, 2011,

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

certified the collection releasing certificates under both Pizza Brain's and Dwyer's name as "the world's largest collection of pizza-related items"; they cited 561 different items, from all over the world, collected since 2010.

Pre-open press

A number of additional articles followed the creation of the Museum of Pizza Culture as it gained notoriety, including articles from

Zagat The ''Zagat Survey'', commonly referred to as Zagat (stylized in all caps; , ) and established by Tim and Nina Zagat in 1979, is an organization which collects and correlates the ratings of restaurants by diners. For their first guide, covering ...

, ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

'', ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

'',

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

Food Network Magazine ''Food Network Magazine'' is a monthly food entertainment magazine founded by Hearst Communications and Scripps Networks Interactive based on the latter's popular television network Food Network. The magazine debuted in 2008, originally as two new ...

, Metro, ''Laughing Squid'', and the magazine for Australia's national airline

Qantas Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founded ...

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

's ''

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

'' also covered the story, as well as TV outlets like NBC 10, and ''Good Morning Sacramento''. In September 2012, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'',

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

Condé Nast Traveler ''Condé Nast Traveler'' is a luxury and lifestyle travel magazine published by Condé Nast. The magazine has won 25 National Magazine Awards. The Condé Nast unit of Advance Publications purchased ''Signature'', a magazine for Diners Club memb ...

, ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'',

TIME Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

Travel and

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

all profiled Pizza Brain during its opening month, garnering further national and international attention. On September 26, 2012, ''

CBS This Morning ''CBS This Morning'' (''CTM'') is an American morning television program that aired on CBS from November 30, 1987, to October 29, 1999, and again from January 9, 2012, to September 6, 2021. The program was aired from Monday through Saturday. ...

'' aired a nationally televised news feature on the museum/restaurant, resulting in Pizza Brain being selected as a topic of discussion on ''

Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given genera ...

''s Twitter account.

Pizza awards & accolades post open

Pizza Brain earned its first foodie award before it opened. Though he is not a pizza maker, the Guinness record and enthusiasm for its grand opening led to partner Dwyer being the honorific title of "Phoodie of the Year" from Philebrity.com. Post-opening, under the direction of head chef Joe Hunter, Pizza Brain has established itself as one of Philadelphia's best pizza shops, including earning 3 "Best of Philly" Awards from

Philadelphia Magazine ''Philadelphia'' (also called "''Philadelphia'' magazine" or referred to by the nickname "Phillymag", once called ''Greater Philadelphia'') is a regional monthly magazine published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by the Lipson family of Philadelphia ...

It has received local, national and international recognition. Notable awards, reviews and lists include: 3 ''

'' "Best of Philly" awards

Business Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...

's Best Pizza in Every State,

Zagat's The ''Zagat Survey'', commonly referred to as Zagat (stylized in all caps; , ) and established by Tim and Nina Zagat in 1979, is an organization which collects and correlates the ratings of restaurants by diners. For their first guide, covering ...

10 Killer Slices of Pizza in Philly

Nylon Magazine ''Nylon'' is an American multimedia brand, publishing company, and lifestyle magazine that focuses on pop culture and fashion. Its coverage includes art, beauty, music, design, celebrities, technology and travel. Originally a print publication, i ...

's 15 Best Pizza Slices in America, ''

The Daily Meal The Daily Meal is a food and drinks website. It is the first site launched by Spanfeller Media Group. Jim Spanfeller is a former CEO of Forbes.com. In 2016, Spanfeller was acquired by Tribune Publishing. Content The Daily Meal produces original c ...

s 10 Best Pepperoni Pizzas In America

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...

's 50 Top Pizza Deliveries from Coast to Coast. ''

s 101 Best Pizzas in America for 2017 ''

s 101 Best Pizzas in America for 2018 and ''

s The 101 Best Pizzas in America 2019 and ''

The Infatuation The Infatuation (formerly known as Immaculate Infatuation) is an American New York-based restaurant recommendation website and messaging service, created by former music industry executives Chris Stang and Andrew Steinthal in 2009. They are most ...

s The Best Pizza Places In Philadelphia

References

External links