A friend’s chick pea salad was the tasty inspiration behind a create-a-pizza contest that earned a $1,000 first prize for a pair of Doylestown florists.

Dave and Donna Zaborowski, owners of Doylestown Floribunda, beat out more than 200 entries for Jules Thin Crust customer pie contest, according to Melissa Lohr, manager of the Jenkintown store and coordinator of the contest.

The winning pizza will be placed on Jules’ menu.

It’s the second year the restaurant, which has three locations in Pennsylvania and one in California, has held the contest.

Last year’s winner – number four under the meat selections – is Kim's Pie, topped with hormone-free roasted chicken, portabella mushrooms, caramelized onions, mozzarella, balsamic barbecue sauce and chives.

The Zaborowskis, whose floral and gift shop is directly behind the Doylestown Jules Thin Crust, were notified Saturday that they won.

“I was shocked,” said Dave Zaborowski, who just happened to bring back a slice of the couple’s culinary creation for lunch at his store on Monday. While the pizza is not yet officially printed on the menu, the Doylestown store has begun to serve it already.

Dubbed “The Great Garbanzo,” the pizza has a mozzarella base and is topped with chick peas, watercress, parsley, basil, garlic, freshly grated parmesan cheese and a little lemon juice.

Lohr said about half of the entries were discounted right away.

“We took out some things that weren’t quite going to work for the setup of the kitchen,” she said.  

Some submissions had too many ingredients. Others had cooking methods that couldn’t be replicated in Jules’ facilities. They also didn’t take any entries containing obvious allergens, such as peanuts, she said.

During that process, samples were given to customers to try and six finalists, including the Zaborowskis, were chosen.

The final six were submitted to a taste test last Tuesday at the Jules’ Newtown store. A panel of food critics sampled the entries and narrowed it down to one.

“We judged it based on originally, taste and appearance, and the likelihood that people would purchase the pie,” said Lohr.

The judges gave the pie high marks for originality and providing a nice variety of textures.

“It’s an interesting combination,” said Jules’ owner John Ordway of the Zaborowski’s creation. “I didn’t think it would come to the top of the pack, but it tested very well.”

The idea for the pizza took shape after the couple had dinner at a friend’s house. Another friend, Helene Mathern, brought a chick pea salad served on greens as part of that night’s menu.

“We all share a passion for good food,” said Donna Zaborowski. The dish earned rave reviews and when the Zaborowskis thought of the contest, “We thought the salad would make a good pizza,” said Donna’s husband.

The couple have been customers of Jules Thin Crust since it opened in Doylestown six years ago. They like the fact that Jules uses both organic and locally produced ingredients in the 28 choices of pizza.

“We’re all really health-conscious, but it has to taste good, too,” she said.

“When you have that many varieties of pizza at your disposal, you can never get tired of it,” added Dave. The couple often has Jules’ pizza for lunch or when they’re working late.

The Zaborowskis plan to split their prize, in the form of gift cards from the restaurant, with Mathern, who is president of Lenape Valley Foundation. They plan to donate their portions to charity.

These were the other five pies that were close but not close enough:

• Pear, Gorgonzola and Fontina cheeses
• Bacon, pineapple and caramelized onions
• Cobb salad
• Pear, apple, arugula and sunflower seeds
• Spring asparagus