The best topping a pizza joint can have

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">chandigarh: they are the best among the best. the staff at pizza hut are mighty pleased with themselves - having won the all-india intra-pizza hut competition recently, which makes the sector 26 outlet the best among 24 in the country. and if that isn''t enough, a new pizza hut in sector 35 is getting operational in two weeks.yummy, we''ll say to that! occupying 1,000 sq feet of space near hdfc bank, it will serve mainly as a delco (delivery and carry out) outlet with four-five tables for dine-ins, and cater primarily to the southern sectors. "we had been planning this outlet for over a year as we needed to expand our reach," says gurbinder kumar, restaurant general manager, chandigarh. pizza hut entered the city in may 1998, and has grown at a cumulative rate of 25 per cent in these three years. now, it makes about 300-350 pizzas a day, and plans to increase this amount with its new branch as currently it caters to only selective sectors in chandigarh (sectors 3-11; 15-22, 26-34, and industrial area phase i). "we only deliver in the sectors that come within the drive-time of half-an-hour from the outlet," says kumar. opening another branch in sector 35 means catering to many more sectors, including some phases in mohali. the other reasons for the focus on sector 35 is that "it is a hotel and restaurant line in any case and is also flooded with commercial establishments", says kumar. moreover, a recent survey conducted by pizza hut shows that 70-80 per cent of the customers coming to sector 26 are actually from sectors 35, 36... basically the southern sectors. "that means there will be enough demand within that area to sustain the outlet," says kumar, adding that the idea of the new venue has been conceived and implemented by his local team. as far as the competition goes, the local pizza hut is finally the best outlet in the country an honour that had been eluding them for a while. the time around the team first won the regional champ challenge at agra in october, competing against six other teams, and then the national final at chennai (three teams participated - pune, bangalore and chandgarh). amit dev thapa, hemraj thakur, arun sharma, sunil s and bb gurung of chandigarh came out tops in the rigorous competition that involved processing 18 orders in 35 minutes (almost 35 pizzas in 35 minutes), by complying with standard norms of hygiene and efficiency both inside the kitchen and at the floor. "there were cameras in the kitchens, and a total of 18 judges watching us," says amit dev thapa, assistant manager, pizza hut, chandigarh, who also won his third ''best manager of the year award''. they also picked up the best overall team and the best production (pizzamaking) team awards as well. <span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">the prize:</span> a seven-day trip to malaysia in february 2002 for the international competition where teams from at least 20 countries will participate. "we will go for the gold," says kumar, pointing out that last year the team representing india (pune) won silver. the chandigarh team, which practised for three months for the nationals (acknowledging help from the rest of the staffers who acted as judges in mock competitions), plan to practise for a month in delhi to get used to performing at outlets other than their own before going for the international event. geetika_bhandari@indiatimes.com </div> </div>