Growing Pizza: How to Plant the Seeds to a Successful Pizzeria
Michael Shepherd is currently the owner/president of Michael Angelo's Pizza, Inc. that operates Michael Angelo's Pizza in Kenton & Rushsylvania, Ohio and Six Hundred Downtown in Bellefontaine, Ohio. In addition to owning his pizzerias, Michael also operates Michael Shepherd Consulting, LLC, a pizzeria consulting company. He is 4 Time World Pizza Champion and 8 Time World Medalist Pizza Acrobat. He holds a combined 18 international and national medals. As a founding member of the World Pizza Champions, he has traveled to Italy competing at the World Pizza Championships annually since 2002. In 2006/2007 his team won back to back Gold Medals in the Team Acrobatic Event. He has been featured on numerous national and international television shows. Michael is a featured speaker for Pizza Today magazine, organizes and manages the World Pizza Games for the International Pizza Expo, is a certified Italian Pizza Maker (certified by the International School of Pizza in San Francisco) and teaches at local adult vocational schools on how to make pizzeria quality pizza at home. In 2007 Michael received the Hardin County Business of the Year award, was the 2006 Ohio Small Business Association Business of the Year Runner-up, and was a recipient of the Top 20 under 40 Business award in 2008. Michael and his family reside in Hardin County in rural Ohio. He is married to his wife Diana of 18 years and has three children; Aaron, Elijah, and Ethan. He is 40 years old and enjoys church, hunting, running, and competing in 5ks, 10ks, half marathons and obstacle course racing. He hopes to complete a full marathon in 2013.