Rene DeGuia is fast. How fast? He can whip up three large pizzas in 28 seconds.

A Sarasota Domino’s franchise owner and two-time winner of the World’s Fastest Pizza Maker Competition (in 2000 and 2005), DeGuia has his sights set on taking home the title once more. In June, he will compete at the 2016 competition at The Venetian in Las Vegas.

DeGuia didn’t travel an easy road to pizza-making glory. He first entered regional pizza-making contests in 1992, then after a string of losses he decided to do whatever it took to win. He hired a sports psychologist and a physical trainer. “I would make 7,000 pizzas a week,” said DeGuia.

His grueling training sessions led to the invention of the “slingshot” technique, a rapid pizza-making method. The move proved a sure-fire hit: DeGuia won the 2000 title and his newfound technique became standard practice on the competitive pizza-making circuit.

For DeGuia, competitive pizza making is not just a solo sport. DeGuia insists training emerging pizza makers has been more rewarding than winning titles. “When you show somebody something and they do something with it, that’s very important to me,” he said. DeGuia increasingly faces off against those he trained with on the competition stage, and it’s a challenge he welcomes. “That’s what drives me,” he said. “It’s kind of a healthy competition.” Speed and efficiency go hand-in-hand, and he maintains competitive pizza making will increase store performance.

With four children and two Domino’s franchises (he just opened a location serving Siesta Key), DeGuia certainly has more than pizza on his plate, but doesn’t let that interfere with training. These days, training is just another part of the job. “I still work in the stores,” he said. “So every time there’s a pizza, I make it as if I’m competing.”