A San Diego man got laid off from his marketing job and started selling pizzas from his apartment, and now 3,500 people chase 15 weekly slots

A San Diego man who was laid off from his marketing job this summer is now selling pizzas out of his apartment, with more than 3,500 people competing for 15 weekly order slots, as reported by the New York Post. AJ Miller’s 15-inch pies sell out in less than 30 seconds.

Miller, who is originally from Connecticut, moved to San Diego in 2020 and found himself missing the East Coast-style pizza he grew up with. Since he couldn’t find the kind of pie he wanted in Southern California, he taught himself how to make it and started documenting his experiments online.

After losing his job, Miller turned the hobby into a business. What began as a text list of 75 interested customers grew into Echo Apizza, named after New Haven-style “apizza,” which is known for its thin, crisp crust and is traditionally cooked in coal-fired ovens at 800 to 900 degrees. Miller said the style is similar to New York-style pizza.

His home oven tops out at 550 degrees

Without a commercial oven, Miller sets his home oven to its maximum temperature of 550 degrees and bakes the pies directly on a heavy baking steel plate to push as much heat as possible into the crust. He then finishes them under the broiler to get blistered edges. His sourdough dough gets a three-day cold fermentation, he sources his toppings locally, and customers pick up their pizzas the following Friday.

Miller said it took him a couple of years to perfect the recipe, though he believes nothing is ever truly perfect and keeps making small tweaks. The pizzas have become popular with Gen Z and millennial foodies, helping him build a social media following of more than 114,000. Miller told Axios he thinks people like what they can’t get, so the exclusivity plays into the demand. His pies aren’t the only ones drawing attention online, as a viral look at how Little Caesars makes sauce showed.

His pizzas reportedly sell for $25 to $30 each. Miller told Axios he is making a profit, but not enough to live on yet. One fan reportedly wrote online, “Found a guy in San Diego who makes pizza out of his apartment oven and it literally changed my life.”

Miller said that if he ramps up slowly, he might one day cook in a professional kitchen or open a restaurant. For now, he is still making the pizzas at home and posting them on social media.