Eleven pounds of pizza and one hour to finish it sounds less like dinner and more like a dare. Georgia has a pizzeria that hands teams a timer, a partner, and a pie heavier than a bowling ball.
Five kinds of meat pile onto a crust that barely holds the weight. The challenge sits in a regular shopping center, the kind of spot easy to drive past without a second look.
Inside, the oven runs hot, the tables fill with brave friends, and the clock starts the moment the pie lands. Most teams slow down after the first few slices.
The meat keeps coming. The crust keeps fighting.
Victory means finishing in time. Defeat means a box and a story.
I watched a pair attempt it and wondered how they trained for weeks or just skipped breakfast. This is not a quiet meal.
This is a spectacle. The reward is bragging rights and a full stomach.
Georgia knows how to turn pizza into a sport.
Meet The Pizzeria Behind The Giant Pie
Big Pie in the Sky Pizzeria is the place behind all this cheesy drama, and it looks pretty ordinary from the outside.
Google lists it simply as a pizza restaurant, which is a bit like calling a monster truck a car. The listing describes classic New York-style pizza with thin crust pies in a variety of sizes.
That plain setting is part of the fun. Nothing about a suburban storefront prepares you for a pizza wider than most car tires.
The business is open and serving today, so this is not a story about a place that used to exist. It holds a 4.4-star rating on Google from roughly 2,700 reviews.
That is a lot of people weighing in on a lot of pizza. Reviewers bring up the slice size and the New York style again and again, which tells you what gets noticed first.
Parking is available, which matters when you are hauling a crew or a very large box. High chairs are on hand too, so younger pizza fans can join the table.
Think of this first stop as your briefing before the main event. The real story starts with a college student who missed a really big slice.
A College Craving That Turned Into A Business
Homesickness can show up in strange ways, and for one Kennesaw State student it showed up as a pizza craving. Back in 2003, Dirk Tendick was attending the university and missing something from a town he used to live in.
He missed quality pizza served in massive slices. Kennesaw did not have quite what he was looking for, so he decided to make it himself.
That meant working out a recipe from scratch. Tendick developed a New York-style dough built specifically for very large pizzas.
Big dough has its own challenges, since it has to stretch wide without falling apart. Getting that right took time, and the restaurant did not open until a few years later.
The doors opened in 2007. So the whole idea moved from a student daydream to a real dining room in about four years.
You can still see the student roots in where the shop sits. It is close enough to the Kennesaw State area that a giant, budget-friendly slice makes a lot of sense for hungry students.
There is a lesson tucked in this history for anyone with a big idea. Sometimes missing something is the best motivation to build it.
Of course, a recipe is only half the story. The next part is how that dough actually becomes a pizza.
Dough Made Daily And A Stone Oven Doing The Heavy Lifting
Every giant pizza begins as a humble ball of dough. At this shop, that dough is made fresh from scratch every day.
The pizzeria says it follows an authentic New York-style recipe. That is the same recipe idea Tendick worked out when he wanted bigger slices.
Each pie is hand-tossed rather than pressed by a machine. Tossing helps stretch the dough wide and thin, which matters a lot when the goal is thirty inches across.
Once topped, the pizzas bake on a stone deck oven. A deck oven uses a flat stone surface, and it is a common tool in New York-style pizza shops.
Google’s own description of the restaurant mentions thin crust. Thin crust shows up often in reviews too, with dozens of mentions on its listing.
Here is a handy tip if you are new to this style. Many people fold a big New York slice down the middle so it is easier to eat.
That fold is not just tradition, it is practical engineering. A wide, thin slice is much easier to manage when you bend it into a long V shape.
Now that you know how the crust is made, it is time to talk about the part that gets jaws dropping. The size lineup goes from roomy to ridiculous.
Thirty Inches Of Pizza And Slices To Match
Picture a pizza so wide it could double as a small table. The extra-large pie at this shop measures 30 inches across.
The menu says it feeds eight to ten people. That makes it a handy pick for team parties, family birthdays, or a big group of friends.
Smaller options exist if you are not feeding a crowd. A medium is 16 inches and feeds two to four, while a large is 20 inches and feeds four to six.
For guests who need it, there is a 10-inch gluten-free personal flatbread pizza. That gives more people a way to join the meal.
The real twist is the single slice. The menu calls it a massive slice cut from the 30-inch pizza, so one piece comes from that giant pie.
Slice size is one of the most talked-about topics in Google reviews. Many people mention being surprised by how large a single piece is.
Here is some practical advice before you order. Starting with one slice is a smart move if you are dining solo and still learning your limits.
Ordering too much is easy here, so plan with a little care. You can always go back for more, but carrying home half a 30-inch pie takes a sturdy grip.
Five Meats Piled On One Pie
Vegetables get a day off with this one. The Carnivore is a specialty pizza topped with five different meats.
Those meats are pepperoni, ground beef, Italian sausage, ham, and bacon. Count them on your fingers and you will run out of one hand.
This is the pie that stars in the shop’s famous food challenge. Even outside the contest, it is a regular menu item you can order for a normal meal.
The Carnivore slice is a big topic in reviews, with more than forty mentions on Google. That suggests plenty of guests pick it when they want the meatiest option.
If five meats sound like too much, the specialty list has other directions. The Bacon Cheeseburger and Supreme are also on the menu for hearty eaters.
Lighter options include the Margherita, White Pizza, Veggie, and Five Cheese. The West Coast Pesto brings Romano, pesto, cream cheese, and chicken together.
Fans of sweet and salty can look at The Big Kahuna. It combines pineapple, ham, feta, and bacon, and Chicken Alfredo rounds out the list.
Still, The Carnivore remains the headliner in this story. Order it in the largest size, add a stopwatch, and things get serious fast.
The Rules Of The Carnivore Challenge
Eleven pounds is roughly the weight of a big house cat, and it is also the weight of this pizza. The Carnivore Challenge uses a 30-inch Carnivore pie that tips the scale at about 11 pounds.
You cannot tackle it alone. Two people team up and try to finish the entire pizza in under one hour.
The cost to attempt it is $60 per team. Finish in time and you win $120, so success doubles your money.
The posted rules are strict and worth reading before you begin. Once the timer starts, you cannot leave the table, though standing up is allowed.
Getting sick is also against the rules. If that happens and the participant does not clean up, a $40 cleanup gratuity gets charged.
Planning ahead is required too. The challenge must be scheduled in advance on weekday time slots set aside to avoid the busiest hours.
Picking a partner may be the most important strategy. Choose someone with a big appetite and a calm attitude under pressure.
Eating at a steady pace usually works better than rushing early. Teams that sprint through the first half often find the last slices much harder than expected.
A Moment In The National Spotlight
Cable TV gave this Kennesaw challenge a much bigger audience in 2009. That year, the Carnivore Challenge was featured on the Travel Channel show Man v.
Food.
The series followed its host to restaurants known for huge portions and eating contests. Landing on that show put a suburban Georgia pizzeria in front of viewers across the country.
TV exposure can change how people see a restaurant. Suddenly a local pizza shop also became a stop for challenge fans and curious travelers.
Very few teams have actually beaten the pie. Reports from food challenge trackers put the number of winners in the low twenties.
The fastest recorded finish is 33 minutes. That is just over half the allowed hour, which is a wild pace for 11 pounds of food.
Here is a fun way to think about that record. Two people would need to eat about a third of a pound of pizza every minute.
Do not let the low success rate scare you off watching, though. Plenty of guests enjoy the challenge as spectators while eating a regular slice.
If you do try it, go in with realistic goals. Making it halfway still gives you a great story to tell later.
Subs, Strombolis, And A Sweet Finish
Not everyone at your table will want pizza, and that is completely fine here. The menu stretches well beyond pies.
Stromboli and calzones are both available for folks who like their fillings wrapped up. Boneless wings, cheese bread, bread sticks, chips, and meatballs fill out the sides.
Sub sandwiches come in a 9-inch size. Choices include Meatball, Chicken Parmesan, Italian, Grilled Chicken, Buffalo Chicken, and a Pizza Sub.
Salad lovers have options too. The list covers House, Caesar, Side, Chicken, Chef, and Greek salads.
Dessert keeps things simple with a few classic picks. You can choose cannoli, cheesecake with strawberry drizzle, Cookies and Cream ice cream, or Neapolitan ice cream.
The restaurant is considered kid-friendly, which helps for family dinners. Service happens at the counter, so you order up front instead of waiting for a server.
One policy is good to know before you go. A sign at the register notes that call-ahead and to-go orders are not meant for dining in.
So if you plan to eat on site, place your order once you arrive. Then grab a seat, fold that slice, and enjoy the show.
Address: 2090 Baker Rd, Suite A-103, Kennesaw, Georgia 30144
