The Big Slice: Pizza Cup Competitors Cut Down to 32

The results are in and Beijing's 100-odd pizza champ hopefuls have been cut down to a succinct 32 in the closure of the Opening Round of this year's Pizza Cup.

With the first slice comes a grab bag of upsets and inevitabilities. A sizeable chunk of last year's contenders have since closed up shop, making way for new contenders to muscle in on Beijing's new pizza landscape. With the shake-up, it's now anyone's game, as proven by the fact that 10 of top 32 are new to the round this year.

Among the most exciting rankings are Lievito and La Villa, both of who opened in the past 12 months and have bagged themselves spots in the top 10. Other big scores come from Legend Beer (previously #58), Dominos (previously #45), The Veggie Table (previously #78), Nbeer Pub (previously unranked), Lakers (previously #48), Pizza Hut (previously #42), Tribe (previously #65), and Lily's (previously #47).

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2018's Pizza Cup Round of 32 Ballot

Despite their shoot to the top, it will be a tough fight for Lievito in Bracket A given that it's up against last year's winner Pie Squared as well as Gung Ho! (last year's #5) and Great Leap (last year's #9). La Villa will also have a tough time in Bracket C facing off against Tube Station (last year's #4) and The Local (last year's #12). Bottega on the other hand (last year's #2) looks in good stead in its #1 position in Bracket B, taking on seven solid, though vulnerable competitors. Only your votes will help them be otherwise.

READ: Closures, New Competitors Change Complexion of Pizza Cup ‘18

Meanwhile, those that have dropped from the top 32 either because of closure, the discontinuation of pizza on their menu, or because they didn't accrue enough votes include Frost (not serving pizza), Hutong Pizza (closed), Agrilandia (dropped from top 32), VSports (dropped from top 32), Eudora Station (dropped from top 32), Bene (dropped from top 32), The Tree (Closed), Pizza View (closed), Luga's Villa (dropped from top 32), and Pizza Factory (dropped from top 32).

That leaves us with a bracket that looks a little something like this:
 

Official Round of 32

Bracket A

1. Gung Ho! Pizza *
2. Pie Squared
3. Great Leap Brewing #45
4. Pizza Saporita
5. Pizza Marzano
6. Mao Mao Chong
7. Lievito
8. Legend Beer *

Bracket B

1. Bottega
2. Annie's *
3. Pyro Pizza
4. Papa John's
5. Domino's
6. Paddy O'Shea's
7. The Veggie Table
8. NBeer Pub *

Bracket C

1. Tube Station *
2. Q Mex *
3. Kro's Nest
4. The Local
5. Xian at East, Beijing
6. Tiago *
7. Lakers
8. La Villa

Bracket D

1. La Pizza
2. Eatalia *
3. Ramo
4. Yummy Box
5. Pizza Hut
6. Lily's American Diner
7. Tribe
8. Tavola

* Indicates the venue was a participant at this year's Pizza Fest

Stats breakdown

Wading through the stats of this year's first round, we can ascertain more than a few idiosyncrasies in your pizza eating habits. First up and perhaps unsurprisingly, at 55 percent, the majority of voters in this round live in Beijing's most populous district, Chaoyang. 

Voters divided by district

1. Chaoyang (55 percent)
2. Dongcheng or Xicheng (15 percent)
3. Haidian (14 percent)
4. Shunyi (8 percent)
5. Fengtai or Shijingshan (2 percent)
6. Other (6 percent)

The average diner eats pizza five times a month; given they eat out 29 times a month (14 lunches and 15 dinners), that means they eat pizza 17 percent of the time, or nearly one in five meals out. That's a lot of pizza.

Beijinger lunch habits: How often do you dine out (or order in) for lunch each week?

1. Less than once per week (11 percent)
2. Once per week (11 percent)
3. 2 times per week (18 percent)
4. 3 times per week (17 percent)
5. 4 times per week (11 percent)
6. 5 times per week (16 percent)
7. 6 times per week (4 percent)
8. 7 times per week (12 percent)

The majority of voters lunch out at least 14 times a month, while one in three eats lunch out five or more times a week (sound familiar?).

As for dining, the average diner eats out 15 times a month, while one in four eats lunch out five or more times a week.

Beijinger dinner habits: How often do you dine out (or order in) for dinner each week?

1. Less than once per week (2 percent)
2. 1 time per week (12 percent)
3. 2 times per week (20 percent)
4. 3 times per week (23 percent)
5. 4 times per week (17 percent)
6. 5 times per week (12 percent)
7. 6 times per week (4 percent)
8. 7 times per week (10 percent)

Perhaps surprisingly in the age of waimai, many of you still only dine out three times a week, while very few cook throughout the week in the evenings. A fairly decent 10 percent of you eat almost half your meals (or more) from outside.

And with that, it's time to get voting in the next round to make sure your top joints, old or new, make into the following rounds.

Knockout Round Schedule

The Round of 32 opens Fri, Oct 19 and closes at noon Tue, Oct 23
The Sweet 16 is announced Tue, Oct 23 and closes Fri, Oct 26
The Elite Eight is announced Fri, Oct 26 and closes Tue, Oct 30
The Final Four is announced Tue, Oct 30 and closes Fri, Nov 2
The Championship round is announced Fri, Nov 2 and closes Mon, Nov 5

This year's winner of Beijing's Best Pizza 2018 will be crowned on Monday, Nov 5!

Images: the Beijinger