Smith

Lars Smith is the chef and co-owner of the State of Mind Hospitality Group in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he was born and raised. He opened State of Mind Public House and Pizzeria in 2018 and has since expanded to three locations with plans for more. He has been in the industry since 2002, but his love for food started when he was a child. He grew up cooking with his grandmothers, eager to learn as much as he could from them. At State of Mind, Lars focuses on food made from scratch, featuring local and seasonal Californian ingredients. 

Lars has been involved in competitive pizza making since 2013. In 2017, he won the international pizza challenge Non-Traditional division in Las Vegas and was featured on the Cooking Channel’s “Food Wars.” Since then, he has continued to compete all over the country and in Italy. In 2020, he won both the Cal Mex and the Plant Forward categories at the Real California Pizza Contest. In 2022, at the World Pizza Championship in Parma, Italy, he received the top American score and placed 5th in the Pizza alla Pala category. In 2023, at the Pizza and Pasta Northeast competition, Lars took 1st place in the Roman division. Along with running his restaurants and competing, Lars also teaches and consults other operators. When he's not working, Lars loves traveling with his wife and two children, especially to Disneyland.

Accomplishments:

• 2017 International Pizza Challenge world championship non-traditional 

• 2018 US Pizza Cup traditional category first place

• 2018 US pizza cup pan category 2nd place

• 2019 West Coast US Pizza Cup, first place

• 2019 International Pizza Challenge, traditional category, 2nd place, southwest division winner

• 2020 Real California Pizza Contest plant-forward category winner

• 2020 Real California Pizza Contest Cal-Mex category winner

• 2020 US Virtual Pizza Cup 1st place

• 2022 Campionato Mondiale Della Pizza 5th place Pizza alla Pala and top American score

• 2023 International Pizza Challenge Northeast Roman category, 1st place

• 2024 campionato mondiale del pizzaiuolo caputo cup 2nd place Americana category