shilling + flaming = totally weak thread.

forget the price debate, i’m joining Ignorant in the boycott as a response to all this frigging whining, alone.

to all the pizza pros commenting here, one thing you should learn about the blogosphere (aka the future) is that playing the pity card will get you absolutely nowhere.

And this is not a pizza parlor, this is a full service restaurant that chages huge markups for beverages/wine/entrees, and uses the pizza to draw in a midtown crowd. Let’s not feel so bad for Naples 45, and their gigantic space, which is left fairly spacious due to a low overall table count.

This BS though about flour and gas costs rising do not amount to what is basically a 25% increase in cost of pizza, since alot of other major costs ie. the rent, the appliances and the staffing costs remain fairly static.

it is what it is… so why bother wasting your time explaining… just gotta think of more ways to make more profits… like selling sushi out of your pizza joints!!!

Jeff’s comments that “the fact remains leftover late lunch lukewarm slices should not be priced at $1.90 as well as deemed “acceptable bargain” by the consuming public” is completely naive. All pies made for slice applications are usually par-baked, meaning that they have not been completely cooked. This is so that you, the consumer, can get a slice on demand, so that you don’t have to wait longer than your lunch hour in order to eat, and similar to Belgian Frites, since it’s twice-baked, it’s even crisper than you would be able to get from a just-baked pie……it’s not a ‘left-over’. Oh, and by the way, the comment that a pizza only costs $1.50 to make is completely asinine. When you factor in all the overhead; rent, insurance, licenses, fees, gas, elect, hvac, taxes, labor, garbage, waste, shrinkage, paper goods, advertising / promotion, and amortization of the capital invested in equipment, and any unplanned misadventure (like someone trashing your business on the internet) the cost of the pie balloons. Before we opened our restaurant, we had a food distribution company. The number of restaurant / pizzeria failures every year is astounding, and most are due to cost squeezes, far beyond the control of the owner.

If this owner is discounting slices after the normal noon lunch hour, he is doing a community service. At our place we only sell slices until 2PM, and then, once the restaurant clears, we usually discard any slice pies that we have left over, because we need to prepare for the dinner crowd and it’s not profitable to deal with slices at that point in the day. Despite what some may think, at the end of the day it is a business, and if you fail to conduct your business profitably, you will shortly be out of business.

For the host of this blog to naively disparage a businessman who is attempting to provide a win-win commercial transaction and provide value to consumers who are savvy, is a real injustice. Before you castigate someone, you should have some greater understanding of what it takes to open up, and keep a business running, while providing jobs and a value service for consumers. If you haven’t participated on an equity level in business, you can still legitimately critique any merchant that you have dealt with. But, you should think twice before you shoot.

(Disclaimer: I am not a pizza-man though I play one on TV, your mileage may vary, batteries not included, may cause dizziness and/or blurred vision, see a doctor if you erection lasts longer than four hours)