1st place winner of the Ooni Pizza Throwdown at the 2024 Las Vegas International Pizza Expo!!!

For the last 30 years, Ryan Thompson has worked in the automotive industry, including the German Trinity (BMW, Porsche, and Mercedes) and power sports companies like Ducati, Zero Motorcycles, and FOX. He promised his parents that cooking was a passion he would keep only as a hobby, "Don't worry, I won't follow you in the restaurant business."

Ryan was born and raised in Santa Cruz and has deep roots in the hospitality business in this area. His grandparents ran two iconic restaurants in town: the Castle at Seabright and the Colonial Inn, now Bailey Properties on Ocean, along with "the Spot" on the BoardWalk before the Canfields took over all concessions. Recently, his parents ran Friar Tuck's diner in Carmel Village for 35 years until COVID-19.

He fell in love with pizza when he had his first slice of pesto pizza in Junior High. In his senior year, he started delivering pizza for Pizza My Heart. After graduating and attending Cabrillo, he moved to the morning prep crew, making and rolling dough and learning all the day-to-day operations of a multistore pizza shop.

Ryan loves that pizza is truly an American dish with regional interpretations. IPogonip Pizza aims to combine local ingredients with a naturally leavened dough made with non-GMO, regenerative-farmed American wheat. He is pulling together familiar flavors and techniques in nontraditional ways. Cooking in a Neapolitan style, developing a soft and crunchy crust forged in a high-temperature oven.

He can't wait to share with you on Monday pizza and the rest of the story.