Inflation, Ingredients, and the Inevitable: The Story of the Extinction of the $1 Pizza Slice
A graph of the prices of pizza ingredients from 2007-2024.
Written by Noah L. ‘26
The once comforting $1.00 pizza sign has been replaced by the daunting $1.50 slice revision; a testament to the deadly role of time on inflation. On a mission to get a cheap slice of pizza, I became thoroughly disappointed to find that dollar slices, once the normal price for a slice, are disappearing from New York city storefronts. All around the city pizza prices have steadily increased: now, at your average pizza restaurant, a slice of cheese pizza can cost anywhere from three to four dollars.
Among all of these higher priced slices a minority of pizza restaurants have stayed constant in low price. These restaurants are the $1.00 or 99 cent pizza stores, sprinkled throughout the 5 boroughs, through trial and tribulation, inflation, hustle and bustle of the city, and a pandemic these stores have kept their doors open and their prices low. As 2023 ends and 2024 progresses such restaurants have practically become extinct from NYC store fronts, as their prices have changed. Slices that used to be a dollar flat have seen a 50% increase in price, now being $1.50.
While this change is easily attributed to inflation rates of the United States as a whole, it proves to be more complicated and has more to do with the inflation of specific ingredients needed to make pizza. Inflation since 2023 is considerably low at 3.1% this is even lower than the inflation rate 2008 at 4%, when many of these businesses were conceived. After analyzing select ingredients required to make pizza, it seems as though price increases in cheese, tomatoes as well as olive oil may be the real cause of the dollar slice’s demise.
The causes of slice inflation can be seen in rising commodity prices. The price of tomatoes has seen a price increase of 31% since 2007. Cheese on the other hand has had a not so steady increase in price, its price has been up and down, nevertheless since 2022 its price has maintained stability at a price of $4 dollars or more. The average price of olive was relatively steady up until 2020, when its cost per pound took a major drop. After this year olive oil became more expensive than ever, increasing 689% in the span of four years (Federal Reserve Economic Data). Olive oil, tomatoes, and cheese are the most integral and basic ingredients in pizza making and they are used throughout the whole process, from making the dough, to adding toppings, to baking.
Regardless of empirical statistics from government sources, pizza store owners have felt the, in their eyes, severe product price increases the most. Oren Halali, a co-founder of 2 Bros Pizza, which originally sold the $1.00 slice, noted to The New York Post,“Inflation is affecting every single ingredient, every single item we use” (Food and Wine)
In addition to ingredient prices, labor prices have also gone up, in 2007 the minimum wage in New York was $7.15 and now in 2024 it is $16. With the increase 113% in minimum wage, business owners also have another added dimension of cost for running their store; that is to provide workers with fair and equal pay. There is no pizza without workers, so regardless of ingredient prices workers rely on their bosses to pay them. Thus business owners need to retain a substantial amount of profit to balance all their costs. On the topic of costs, real estate prices in NYC commercial storefronts have also increased heavily, now it costs more than ever to rent and own businesses in the city.
As a result of these inflations, store owners have had to rethink their business plans of $1.00 pizza, in order to stay afloat within the ruthless NYC restaurant industry. In many ways such an increase is just a result of modernization and paying the extra 0.50 cents is a small increase that has lasting impact; allowing your favorite pizza businesses to keep their doors open, lights on, and workers present.