2 Bros. is no stranger to the cheap slice showdown. Here's their $1 slice is in a head-to-head with 99 Cent Fresh Pizza in 2009. [Photograph: Adam Kuban]
It's been named one of New York's Top Ten Pizza Feuds of All Time and it may have finally been laid to rest. The New York Times reports that the Midtown spat that caused slice prices to drop to a new low in the spring of this year (when the dollar slice chain 2 Bros. moved into the neighborhood of Bombay/6 Ave. Pizza), may have found resolution with a price compromise. If you want the full back story, you can read the scoop here. The Cliff's Notes version is that Bombay/6 Ave Pizza overseer, Pravin Patel, felt that the Halali brothers, owners of the 2 Bros. shop, were going to drive him out of business with their cheap slices. Fighting fire with fire, Patel lowered his prices to 79¢, to which the Halali brothers answered with a drop in price to 75¢. Patel matched the price, and there they sat, both stubbornly losing money month-to-month. The best line from the feud came from the 2 Bros owner: "We might go to free pizza."
It turns out that isn't the price compromise that they reached. According to the Times report, the resolution went like this:
Mr. Patel said the negotiation was brief. "I said, 'We lose money, and the customer wins,' " he recalled. "He said, 'You're right.' "
What does this resolution really say? We don't want the customers to win and we are going to keep selling pizza at the same price, only a slightly higher one? If there is a winner, it would have to be 2 Bros. The dollar slice was always their thing. Bombay was previously selling $1.50 slices.
See also ...
'New York Times' on the Drop of the Dollar Slice»
Do New York Dollar Slices Represent a Unique Pizza Style? »
Slice's Dollar-Slice Map »
Only in New York: Papa John's 99¢ Slices »
Cheap-Slice Showdown: St. Marks 2 Bros. Pizza vs. 99 Cent Fresh Pizza »
'New York' Mag on the Rise of the Dollar Slice »
'New York Times' on the Rise of the Dollar Slice »
About the author: Meredith Smith is the Slice editor. You can follow her on Twitter: @mertsmith.