A New Columbus business owner is now part of a world record for the world’s largest pizza party.

Tony Cerimele, who owns New Columbus Pizza, traveled to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in January to take part in the World Pizza Champions World’s Largest Pizza Party.

“We try to as a group do something for charity every year, and we were in Tulsa for other team related business and we put this together,” Cerimele said.

The pizza party, which was held in partnership with The University of Tulsa, set a Guinness Book of World Record for the number of people participating. A total of 3,357 participants took part in the Jan. 21 event, and raised $40,000 for Make-A-Wish Oklahoma.

The attempt was a charitable initiative of World Pizza Champions.

World Pizza Champions team is a U.S. based nonprofit made up of multinational elite pizza professionals. The team is dedicated to promoting pizza making as a respected craft and viable career choice. Inclusion on the team is through invitation only and based on skill, character, compatibility and selfless effort on behalf of the industry.

“This record attempt was logistically a challenge that took dozens if not hundreds of people to pull off,” Cerimele said. “We are so proud of the way multiple entities came together for the sake of raising money for a well-deserving organization and in doing so put some serious funds in their corner and accomplished a huge title of World Record Holder of World’s Largest Pizza Party.”

The attempt was part of the pregame festivities for the Tulsa University men’s basketball game against Tulane. The official attempt lasted 15 minutes and a Tulsa-sponsored after party, featuring additional pizza, drinks, and a beer garden followed immediately after.

“We are so thankful the World Pizza Champions stepped up to this enormous challenge to put on what was not only an incredibly fun event, but also a largely successful one,” said Jane Rohweder, Senior Director of Development, Make-A-Wish Oklahoma. “We currently have a considerable amount of kids on a waitlist in Oklahoma alone. Events like these help us grant wishes to such deserving individuals.”

Cerimele has been in the pizza business since 2013, when he took over the longtime pizza business that his grandparents Michael and Mayme and then uncle Michael “Schmick” Cerimele ran since 1959 from the basement of their home.

Today, the family’s recipes live on through Tony Cerimele.

He now offers specialty pizzas, signature family favorites and a mobile wood fired pizza catering for area events. But Cerimele didn’t stop there.

He also is a certified Pizzaiolo from The International School of Pizza in San Francisco by friend and mentor Tony Gemignani, which helped him master his craft and receive a spot on The World Pizza Champions team.

For more information on New Columbus Pizza Company, visit the company’s Facebook page www.facebook.com/NewColumbusPizza or website https://newcolumbuspizzaco.com.