High food costs are crushing profits at Big Apple Pizza in Livermore, California, and owner Ray Attar is ready to charge the U.S. economy with murder most foul.
There’s even a sign on the soda fridge to that effect. It reads:
“Murder!
We are getting killed by the galloping inflation in food costs. Unlike politicians, we cannot raise our debt ceiling and are forced to raise our very reasonable prices.
Please Don’t Hate Us!”
Full disclosure: That sign first went up during the pandemic back in Spring 2020, and Big Apple Pizza is still in business nearly five years later.
But, in an interview with SFGate.com, Attar said he’s still struggling to keep up.
He pointed to his high oil costs as an example. Before the pandemic, five gallons cost him around $38, he said. Now he’s paying twice that amount. In turn, he has been bumping his prices up—an extra 50 cents for a cheese slice and about $2 more for medium and large whole pies.
“Forget the profit,” Attar told SFGate. “Profit is gone out of the window. Now it’s just, like, how can I keep this place going and hoping that things might turn around?”
He said he can only purchase his preferred pepperoni brand from one supplier, so he’s stuck with whatever he’s charged. Additionally, third-party delivery platforms account for between 60% and 70% of his business while taking 33 cents for every dollar in revenue.
Third-party delivery companies like DoorDash, he said, are basically “another Uncle Sam.”
According to Big Apple Pizza’s website, it’s a “New York-style grab & go joint” offering slices and whole pies. A cheese slice sells for $6 apiece, while a pepperoni slice costs $6.50 and slices with two or three toppings come to $7 or $7.50 respectively.
A small cheese pie sells for $17.95, and the price goes up by $2 dollars per additional topping. Specialty pizzas include the White Truffle (portobello mushrooms, fresh mozzarella, Pecorino Romano, fresh garlic and a drizzle of black and white truffle oil) and the Pesto Chicken (pesto sauce, chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, black olives, mushrooms, artichokes, feta and red onions), both of which sell for $28.95 in the small size.
The pizzeria’s Facebook page hasn’t been updated since August 2024, while its Instagram account appears to be used infrequently. Judging from the latter, Attar periodically offered discounts on large orders in 2024, such as 20% off orders over $50 in November and 15% off on spends of $40 or more from August through October 31.
Big Apple Pizza has been in operation since 2011, but Attar told SFGate that he isn’t confident in its long-term prospects. “At times, you’re like, ‘OK, I’m feeding everybody, and then I struggle at the end to feed my family.’”
The pizza shop has a 4.1 rating on Yelp with 254 reviews. Here’s a look at the most recent one:
