There's, um, a small catch.
What's one way to gain favor with New Yorkers? Offer them free pizza, of course.
And one D.C. based pizza chain is doing just that. The hip brand, &pizza, is offering free pizza to the first 212 customers who set foot in its brand-new NYC shop. That's not all, though; the shop will also be offering an entire year's worth of free pizza to the first 22 people who agree to get a tattoo—like, a real one—of the &pizza logo.
The catch? Well, the tattoo is probably the biggest catch. No argument there. But New Yorkers who are interested in free slices from &pizza, free or not, will have to get used to a new style of pizzeria: one in which long, oval-shaped pies are ordered and created in an assembly line, much in the same way that sandwiches are thrown together at Subway, or burritos doled out at Chipotle. At &pizza, you select your (unlimited!) toppings from a wide-ranging selection that includes things like mushroom truffle and fig balsamic. There are also a few signature pies you can choose from, if you don't feel like building your own from the bottom up.
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Then, your pizza gets tossed onto a conveyor belt for 90 seconds (and presumably travels into an oven) before it's ready to be eaten. It's $11 per pizza, which is about the same as a toppings-packed salad at Sweetgreen (sans chicken or salmon).
That's almost fancy enough to warrant a tattoo. Almost. Believe it or not, many of the chain's employees have ampersand tattoos themselves. If you're brave enough to join their club, at least you won't have to worry about transportation; you'll be driven from the restaurant to New York's First Class Tattoos.
Is it worth it? We're honestly not sure. With unlimited toppings and a free ride to the tattoo parlor, we have a feeling there'll be a surprising number of New Yorkers who really do sign up for this sweet deal. Check the brand's website for updates on its opening.
