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&pizza facts for kids
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| Private | |
| Industry | Restaurants |
| Founded | 2012 |
| Founders | Michael Lastoria (CEO) Steve Salis |
| Headquarters |
Washington, DC
,
USA
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Number of locations
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55 |
|
Area served
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East Coast of the United States |
| Products | Italian cuisine |
&pizza (pronounced "And Pizza") is an American fast casual pizza chain. This means it's quicker than a sit-down restaurant but offers more choices and fresh ingredients than traditional fast food. They have 55 locations in several states like Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania, plus Washington, D.C.
&pizza sells personal-sized pizzas that you can customize yourself. These pizzas are shaped like rectangles, not circles! Each restaurant looks different because local artists design the inside, making it unique to its neighborhood. Some locations also offer drinks like beer or wine.
History of &pizza
The first &pizza opened in July 2012 in Washington, D.C. It was started by Michael Lastoria and Steve Salis, and was first called H&pizza. Steve Salis was the CEO until 2015. Today, Michael Lastoria is both the CEO and the creative director.
In 2016, the company received a large investment to help it grow. This allowed &pizza to open its first location in New York City in June 2017. Later that year, &pizza teamed up with a bakery called Milk Bar to open a joint shop in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
&pizza has also supported a higher minimum wage for workers. They have spoken to members of Congress about raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2023.
Fun Facts and Marketing
Since 2015, &pizza has had a special tradition on Pi Day (March 14th). On this day, they host weddings right in their pizza shops! They offer free pizza, cake, drinks, and even photographers for the couples. In 2018, &pizza hosted over a dozen weddings in cities like D.C., New York, and Philadelphia.
The restaurant also offers to pay for employees to get a tattoo of its special ampersand (&) logo if they want one. However, some groups have criticized this idea and also how the company refers to its employees as "tribe members."
&pizza once had a legal disagreement with a pizza chain from the UK called @pizza. &pizza claimed that @pizza was using a similar name and causing confusion. After a three-year court case, the claim was dismissed in 2020.