San Diego man started a small pizza business in his apartment after being laid off, and now he makes 15 a week and sells out in under 30 seconds
‘I think people do like what they can’t get, so the exclusivity does play into it a bit.’
A waitlist of 1,500 people is chasing 15 pizzas a week from a single Ocean Beach apartment in San Diego. According to Axios, AJ Miller began selling pies after losing his marketing job. The list grew from 75 to 1,500 names in a single week, and each batch of orders is claimed within half a minute.
Pizza lovers join a text list through the Hot Plate app. Miller usually sends an alert on a Saturday, and everyone on the list races to claim one of the 15 spots. Prices run between $25 and $30, based on toppings. Miller says he earns a profit, though “there’s only so many pizzas I can make.” He credits part of the demand to scarcity. “I think people do like what they can’t get, so the exclusivity does play into it a bit,” he says.
Fridays are for baking. Miller turns out a pie every half hour for pickup between 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. The rest of the week goes to making dough and sauce, grating cheese and getting toppings ready. He describes the pies as similar to New York pizza, though he prefers the New Haven version, which is baked in a coal oven.
Working with a home oven
A coal oven is not realistic in an apartment, so his oven runs at 550 degrees and a baking steel adds extra heat. A turn under the broiler to finish crisps the edges. The dough ferments cold for three days. Ingredients come from a produce supplier in Old Town. In 2020, Miller left Connecticut for San Diego, where he could not find New York style slices to his liking. “It took a couple years to really perfect my craft,” he says.
By 2024 he was posting pizza-making videos on Instagram, and viewers began asking whether they could order one. Looking ahead, he hopes to grow slowly, possibly by renting a professional kitchen and one day opening a restaurant of his own. Job cuts have reached other industries as well, including Kroger fulfillment center layoffs and Starbucks workers laid off. Miller says he is 99% satisfied with how the pizzas turn out. “I don’t think anything’s ever perfect,” he adds.
Coal-fired New Haven pizza has a long history. According to PMQ, the style traces back to the early 1920s, and locals call it apizza. The magazine states that coal-fired ovens run close to 1,000 degrees and that the style serves a thin, crispy crust with a bit of char.
One California category for food businesses run from home is the microenterprise home kitchen operation. The state defines it as a food facility operated in a private home. According to 10News, San Diego County supervisors voted 4-0 to approve an ordinance making that program permanent. It covers how many meals a home kitchen can prepare per day and sets gross annual sales limits.
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