By Thomas Smith

On a busy summer day in 2017, 10-year old Broen Thompson was offered a free bagel in exchange for folding some pizza boxes for Pizza on Earth in Dorset.

That must be where it all started, jokes Thompson.

A 1st year Genetics student at the University of Toronto, Thompson first began working at Pizza on Earth in Dorset two summers ago.

“[Dorset] has always been a part of my life,” said Thompson.

Staying at the family’s cottage on Kawagama Lake, in Minden Bay, Thompson’s dream was to spend his summers in nature and be able to gain ‘dad stories,’ fun stories that he can share with others when he gets older.

After having worked as a ski attendant in Barrie, Pizza on Earth was Thompson’s first introduction to the world of pizza.

“It requires a lot of skill,” said Thompson. “When it gets busy, you are dealing with hundreds of customers per day.”

In addition to taking orders, Thompson says that he had a variety of duties at Pizza on Earth including taking orders, cleaning, making pizzas, and folding pizza boxes.

At Pizza on Earth’s backroom, the staff put up a sheet to record their fastest time to fold 50 pizza boxes.

Thompson says that he remembers the fastest record on the sheet was eight minutes and he thought, “That’s my goal. I can beat that.”

Thompson began practicing folding 50 boxes at a time. The total time it took him began to shrink. Six minutes, then five, then four. Soon enough, Graham Johnson, son of Pizza on Earth’s owner Elizabeth Johnson, became involved in a friendly competition with Thomspon. Chasing each other’s records, Thompson says that he eventually managed to surpass Johnson’s time.

After dominating the in-house record, Thompson began to research the Guinness World Record.

The previous world record for fastest time to fold 50 pizza boxes was held by Nicola Matarazzo, from Italy, with a time of three minutes and 54.20 seconds.

With a goal in sight, Thompson began to perfect his pizza box folding technique. Things such as the height of the table, and precise movements were practiced and perfected. One breakthrough for Thomspon was realizing that nowhere in the record rules specified that the boxes had to stay on the table. Instead of neatly stacking the boxes, Thompson pushed them away to the side, saving valuable seconds.

“Cardboard cuts are worse than paper,” says Thomspon.

On June 25, with seven people assisting with filming and verifying the world record attempt, Thompson successfully beat the world record to fold 50 people boxes. His record time was three minutes and 47.82 seconds. The record was finally confirmed in October.

“I am the type of person where if you give me a challenge or a thing to beat,” said Thomspon. “I am going to beat it.”

Thompson says that proper technique and sheer willpower helped push him past the world record. He also says that the support of the Johnson family and their encouragement to experiment let him accomplish the record feat.

“It’s pretty random but it’s really fun to talk about,” said Thompson.

In October of 2024, the Johnsons brought Thompson to the Canadian Pizza Summit held in Toronto. At the Pizza Summit, Thompson won the Great Pizza Box Fold-Off, folding 10 pizza boxes in 46.2 seconds and earning a mention in December’s issue of Canadian Pizza.

Thompson has confirmed with the Johnsons that he will be returning to Pizza on Earth this summer, but his future as a pizza slinger remains uncertain.

“It’s nothing more than a fun story,” said Thompson with a laugh.