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In June, an independent pizza shop in Sunnyvale closed its doors for the final time, to be replaced by…another independent pizza shop? A Slice of New York has left Sunnyvale to focus on its flagship store in San Jose and is passing the baton to Slice of Homage in the “perfect” transition, according to A Slice of New York founder Kirk Vartan.
“(It) was the ideal solution,” Vartan said. “What happened was what we really asked the universe (for).”
After 9/11, Vartan decided to open a classic New York City pizzeria to honor the Manhattan corner shop he grew up with, debuting A Slice of New York in San Jose in 2006. Now almost 20 years later, A Slice of New York’s Sunnyvale location has closed in what Vartan said is an economically disadvantageous decision that “people call… stupid, dumb, idiotic, nuts, crazy.” But to him, staying in San Jose is “the right choice.”
A Slice of New York was founded by Vartan and his wife, Marguerite Lee. Vartan grew up in Midtown Manhattan, and when he moved to the West Coast in 1998 to work for Cisco, he bemoaned the lack of classic New York pizza.
After reaching “the end of my kind of corporate rope,” Vartan said he “reevaluated where I was and what I wanted to do. And I hadn’t found a (New York) pizza shop yet.”
So he reached out to the owner of his childhood pizzeria, looking for help to open his own pizza place. The owner offered recipes, advice and ingredients to give Vartan a head start and refused to accept payment.
When A Slice of New York opened its first location in San Jose, it had six stools for indoor dining. Over time, the business grew, expanding with a second location in Sunnyvale in 2011. A Slice of New York has earned recognition through awards and acclaim for its pizza and as Silicon Valley’s first brick-and-mortar worker-owned cooperative.
As a cooperative, workers have the option to become owners, meaning they make the decisions for the business and earn a right to a share of the profits based on hours worked. It also means the decision to close the Sunnyvale location was made by the team.
“We always had a very empowered culture,” Vartan said. “But this gives the real ownership of the business’ future, like when we closed our Sunnyvale location, that was a group decision.”
It would have been “the best financial decision” to close the San Jose location, according to Vartan. The business had made large investments in Sunnyvale, which was a significantly larger location, with parking and lots of seating.
But the team made the decision to stay at their flagship location to preserve the “core values” of the business, Vartan said.
“It will break my soul to close San Jose,” he said. “If we (were to) close San Jose and open up (Sunnyvale further) then it’s just a business making money, not something that you are really tightly bonded with.”
Since another pizza shop is taking over the Sunnyvale location, much of their investments into the property will still be put to good use.
“It’s a really nice environment,” Vartan said of the Sunnyvale store. “What’s great is that Slice of Homage gets to enjoy those investments now, which is the ideal scenario.”
The board, which currently includes nine employees, made the decision to stay in San Jose and expand that location. A Slice of New York has taken over the space next door and plans to add amenities for customers like more seating, a bathroom and beer options. According to Vartan, this transition is both scary and exciting.
“People are energized right now,” he said. “(The team is) going through the grief process…Right now, the light is coming on, and we really see the future for our business and the growth that we want to have. And that’s really exciting because that little spark has really invigorated some of our team in ways I haven’t seen in a while.”
While Vartan and the team at A Slice of New York devote themselves to improving their flagship location, Slice of Homage and its owner, Steven Barrantes, are hard at work preparing to open in Sunnyvale.
Barrantes has spent much of his career working in pizzerias and said that owning his own shop is “a dream come true.” He established Slice of Homage in 2020, initially working from his apartment. Now he runs Slices by Slice of Homage at San Jose’s San Pedro Social, which he opened in 2022, and works from a Sunnyvale ghost kitchen that started operating in 2024. The new Sunnyvale location is their first standalone restaurant.
“I was 17 when I decided I wanted to own a pizzeria because I worked at one,” Barrantes said. “It’s a huge accomplishment for me personally, but I always like to include my team in all the success.”
Barrantes named his business Slice of Homage to pay tribute to many different kinds of pizza. He serves New York, Sicilian, Detroit and Chicago cracker-thin style pizzas and is introducing a Chicago deep-dish at Slice of Homage’s new Sunnyvale location. Barrantes has traveled around the country learning different recipes and putting his own twist on them.
“Since I started, I’ve gone to so many places because of pizza, for pizza, to learn pizza,” he said.
Barrantes feels that providing more options to the South Bay customer base will give Slice of Homage an edge in the region.
“For the longest time in the South Bay, I believe that a lot of pizzerias stuck to one style, and I think the consumer is getting smarter and understanding that there are other styles than just a round pizza,” he said. “We are wanting to fill that gap here in the South Bay.”
Barrantes said the new location will open to third parties sometime in August, meaning customers will be able to order pizza via DoorDash or Uber Eats, or even call and pick up. Around September, Slice of Homage will be fully open for business, “right in time for football season and the holiday,” Barrantes said.
As the business transitions to its first full restaurant, Barrantes said that “the stakes get bigger.” On top of getting different licenses, expanding the team and working to pass all the necessary inspections, Barrantes is also working on rebranding the location by painting, changing the flooring and ensuring it will be a unique space.
“The restaurant is transitioning,” he said. “I need to put my vision towards what Slice of Homage looks like.”
The transition has been made easier by the collaboration between Slice of Homage and A Slice of New York.
“They have really made it easier for us, in the sense that they know the space… we’ve been working hand in hand on the transition phase,” Barrantes said. “Some businesses leave, and they don’t care how you put things together, but I think (the people at A Slice of New York) really care. And as a co-op, they really help people…we found a connection.”
Vartan got his start in the pizza business with help from another pizzeria and is now “paying (it) forward a little bit,” he said. While some may wonder why two competitors are working together, Vartan views it from a different perspective.
“We’re small, independent businesses in an industry that’s under pressure all the time, and this is a way we’re actually able to help each other,” he said. “We’re collaborating together. We’re sharing strategies. We’re really working (together) at a level that is atypical.”
Slice of Homage Pizza, 1253 W. El Camino Real, Sunnyvale; Instagram: @sliceofhomage. Opening later this month for pickup and delivery.
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