A Taste of Home

A New York entrepreneur rings up healthy sales by offering transplanted New Yorkers a familiar slice of life – with anchovies, if they wish.

Successful web businesses know it’s not always the product they’re selling, but the feeling that goes with it. Take for example, Ed Powers’ company, IWantNYPizza.com. With just a few mouse clicks, the company will deliver New York-style pizzas anywhere in the U.S.

Powers got the idea when a friend who had moved to Los Angeles complained about not being able to find any good pizza in Southern California. Since Powers’ brothers-in-law own two Long Island pizzerias, he shipped a few pies to his friend. But then he realized there were probably a lot of ex-New Yorkers out there hungry for a slice of home. 

IWantNYPizza.com ships pizzas from New York to anywhere in the country overnight.

“We've had hundreds of emails from people. Folks have told us that they've had loved ones across the country who were going for medical tests and were in dire straits and then opened up the pizza and had a great experience,” says Powers.

In the three years since Powers created IWantNYPizza, he has delivered some memorable pies. “Folks who have gone away to Iraq and Afghanistan, serving in the United States military, had their last pizza from New York before they went over.” 

Ed Powers and his nephew Anthony ship pizzas from West Babylon, Long Island.

He set up a network of other pizza restaurants to make, bake and ship the pies, which maximizes their efficiency and profits by using their down times to fill the orders.

The pies are cooked for ten minutes, flash frozen, vacuum-packed with dry-ice type gel packs, and then shipped by UPS. Powers recommends next day delivery, but that often costs more than the $15 pizzas.

“It's more about experience than it is actually about the pizza,” he says. “The pizza is just a vehicle to get to that experience.”

A lot of people seem to think it’s worth it. Powers projects sales of more than half a million dollars this year. 

Ed Powers says the "New York attitude" is one reason New York pizza is superior. 

So why do New Yorkers believe their pizza tastes best? There are a lot of theories, from the simplicity of the sauce (crushed tomatoes with a little salt and pepper) to the New York water used to make the dough. Powers thinks it probably has more to do with attitude.

“New York attitude is pretty transparent and bluntly honest. And that's how the pizza comes across, too,” he says. “If you don't like it, take a hike.”

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