New Haven breaks Guinness World Record for largest pizza party Words by Henry Liu. Photos by Ximena Solorzano and Liza Kaufman. Published on Sept. 15, 2025.

New Haven broke the Guinness World Record for the largest pizza party Friday evening, cementing the city’s “pizza capital” status.

Thomas Bradford, a Guinness World Record adjudicator, made the announcement around 7 p.m. Friday alongside event organizer Colin Caplan, founder of local pizza tour company Taste of New Haven.

Bradford told the crowd at the annual Apizza Feast that 4,525 people officially participated in Friday’s pizza party, surpassing the previous world record of 3,357 participants in a pizza party.

“Congratulations, New Haven! You are all officially amazing!” Bradford told the crowd before presenting a certificate to Caplan.

For the world record bid to be official, each participant had to stay in a fenced party area for at least 15 minutes and eat two slices of pizza. Six local pizza trucks baked 625 pies, or 10,000 slices, so that up to 5,000 people could participate in the record attempt.

“New Haven once again has demonstrated its pizza supremacy, and why the Elm City is the pizza capital of the country and the world,” Mayor Justin Elicker wrote in a statement to the News, calling it “a magical, one-of-a-kind New Haven night.”

Tulsa, Okla. previously earned the world record for the largest pizza party in January 2023.