It's the dough making a Kingston pizza chef a worldwide name

KINGSTON -- "Influencer pizza" isn't exactly what it sounds like.

Sure, there was a TikTok from a beloved, five-year-old shop in downtown Kingston that drew overwhelming crowds to Appletree Cove over the summer, and the owner there has indeed started a YouTube channel: "Will Grant, Pizza Mentor."

But the phrase, in the sense Grant talks about it, isn't about thirsty clicks or going viral. It's a specific category in the Pizza World Cup, a competition among pizza chefs held in early October in Rome. That's where Grant, founder of Sourdough Willy's Pizzeria , a past winner at the World Cup and now a teacher, or "master pizzaiolo," was given the Follie Award, the first time an American has received the lifetime achievement honor for his dedication to the craft. Pizza influencing, at the i