Food / Tony Tantillo

Pizza Joint's Dollar Slices Counter Weak Economy

NEW YORK (CBS) ― Whether it's gas, clothes or food, we're always hearing about price hikes.

Well, there are some pizza places that are keeping their prices rock bottom, selling a slice for under a dollar.

The lines are out the door and they're all willing to wait for 99-cent pizza on Manhattan's East Side.

"It's good," customer Larry Kurcz said. "For a dollar, you can't beat it."

"It's actually the joke of my office that I come in with pizza every single day from this spot," Eric Rosario, another customer, said. "[I save] a bundle."

At Amadeus Pizza on the West Side, a plain slice will cost you $2.70. At nearby City Pie, a slice costs $2.30.

So how does "99 Cents Fresh Pizza" do it?

"It's all about the volume," Manager Abu Naser said. "We sell a lot of pizza in a day."

At up to 2,000 pies a day, the small shop at 43rd and Lexington is selling 1,600 slices a day.

It takes only 2 employees at a time to run the place from 10 a.m. until midnight, seven days a week.

Ben Hicks buys $8 pizzas for the office and has figured it out.

"They have an oven in there and that's about it," Hicks said. "No seating...other pizza places around here generally have seating."

Right around the corner, Prince's Deli is struggling, and started selling 99-cent slices a few months ago to attract customers.

"We have to get the business from people who can spend the money, [but] nobody has the money here," Prince Deli's Mike Radwan said.

Radwan, who's been on the block for more than 30 years, says his deli may not survive.

Profits at 99 Cents Fresh Pizza are also down because of the rising costs of ingredients, but people keep lining up.

"I mean, in snow, in rain, anything, there could be a tornado out, I think there would still be a line," East Side resident Carlo Dioguardi said.

Economists say food prices are going to keep going up and they may not peak until sometime next year, but the workers at 99 Cent Fresh Pizza say they're going to keep their prices the same and rely on their die-hard customers to keep them in business.

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