Photo courtesy of J.J. Thomas.
J.J. Thomas with his wife, Whitney, and their daughter in front of the New York Pizza space.
Homewood resident J.J. Thomas has always loved pizza. His dream, he said, has always been to own a pizzeria of own.
Thomas’ dream has now become a reality after he and his wife, Whitney, became the tenants of New York Pizza’s old space.
He said he plans to continue that legacy by bringing a Slice Pizza & Brew, another pizza restaurant chain, to Homewood.
“My wife and I do not have restaurant experience, so we will be partnering with a proven locally owned pizza restaurant brand that we feel confident is a good fit for Homewood,” Thomas said. “We will mainly be involved in the planning and design of the space and ongoing marketing and high-level strategy and operations of the business. But the day to day management and menu will be the responsibility of our future co-owner and operating partner. At this point, that partner looks to be Slice Pizza & Brew. We have a few more I’s to dot and T’s to cross with them, but we are hopeful to make the partnership official in the next week or two,” he said in early May.
Thomas said they have been meeting with Slice Pizza & Brew officials for almost two months and have enjoyed getting to know them and brainstorming with them on how to make Slice Pizza & Brew in Homewood a special place.
When the owners of New York Pizza announced they were retiring at the end of 2021, Thomas said he and Whitney thought it was the right timing to open a pizzeria as well as the right location.
“Fast forward to today, and the owners of the building, who also owned New York Pizza, fortunately chose us to be the new tenant and take on the fun opportunity of being Homewood’s next family-friendly pizza destination,” Thomas said.
The current plan for the space is to perform a “refresh and redesign” of the entire interior space and kitchen, he said.
“The building itself is iconic and approximately 100 years old,” Thomas said. “We want to restore part of that history. For instance, the original tin ceiling tiles are still there and luckily in good shape, so we hope to expose those along with the original brick walls.”
What will make this Slice location unique is the walkability of Homewood, the size of the inside of the building and how close it is to popular local restaurants, he said.
“Being walkable and centrally located, makes the location unique,” Thomas said. “Also, it is hard to tell from the outside, but it is a large space, around 4,500 square feet, so that allows us to incorporate customer-centric features that a smaller space just would not allow. Lastly, we are huge fans of all the many great restaurants in Homewood, especially our new neighbors like Taco Mama, Saw’s, Local 39, Ono Poke and Sam’s Deli. We believe this new pizza restaurant being surrounded by so many other excellent locally owned brands will make it just that more attractive for those looking for a place to eat pizza.
“I, personally, am excited to be able to fulfill a lifelong dream, and we, as a family, are excited about carrying on the legacy that New York Pizza created for 40 years in being a downtown Edgewood pizza destination that hopefully the community continues to support,” Thomas said. “My daughter, Everly, is in kindergarten in Homewood, and it is neat to think about her and other Homewood students eating there, celebrating birthdays or post-game parties and it possibly even being some of their first jobs.”
