&pizza

History

&pizza started as H&pizza, founded by Michael Lastoria and Steve Salis. The first location opened in July 2012 on H Street in Northeast Washington, D.C. Salis was the CEO from the beginning until 2015, and Lastoria now serves as both CEO and creative director. A $25 million investment from AVALT in 2016 allowed the chain to enter New York City, where its first store opened in June 2017. That same year, &pizza partnered with the bakery Milk Bar on a joint venture in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and also received funding from RSE Ventures.

The company has publicly supported a $15 minimum wage by 2023, advocating for it in Congress. In 2025, &pizza began a franchise program to grow beyond its Mid-Atlantic base. It later joined Latitude Food Group, a holding company that also owns Tijuana Flats. By 2026, franchise deals had been signed for Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, while a company-run restaurant was planned for Las Vegas.

In May 2026, &pizza announced its first international franchise agreement, a multi-unit deal with The 90s Venture to open 10 restaurants in India by 2032, starting with a Mumbai location in 2027. Executives noted that India attracted more international franchise interest than any other market, and the initial expansion would concentrate on one region before spreading nationwide.

Marketing

Since 2015, &pizza has marked Pi Day each year by throwing weddings inside its shops, covering pizza, cake, drinks, officiants, and photos. In 2018, the chain held more than a dozen such ceremonies across DC, Baltimore, New York, and Philadelphia. The company also pays for employees who want to get a tattoo of its ampersand logo.

That policy, along with calling workers “tribe members,” has drawn criticism from the advocacy group Our Harvard Square. Separately, &pizza filed a trademark case against the UK chain @pizza. After a three-year legal fight through the District Court and the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the trespassing and copyright infringement claims were dismissed in 2020.

Did You Know?

• The Washington Post called &pizza 'the pizza shop for the 21st century' and described it as 'Chipotle for pizza'.
• The chain was #12 on the Restaurant Business 2017 Future 50 list and was on the Fast Company World's Most Innovative Companies 2018 list.