Striking Gold on 14th street.

Krust Pizza owner Zach Gold knows first hand what goes into a one dollar slice, “It varies, we use a couple bags of flour, at least a couple of 50 pound flours bags a day ” says Gold. Gold, who opened Krust Pizza in 2011, has been working with pizza since he was young. “I was delivering pizza for years, for a restaurant. I worked hard for two years, bought my first one [restaurant], sold it, and bought this place. I like working for myself. I was living about 5 min away from my last place, it was easy. This is way better though.”

Gold’s first business venture was an Italian restaurant in Flushing, “We made any Italian dish you can think of,” Gold boasts. The transition into a full time pizzeria was simple, after searching online for a location Gold found 226 East 14th street, right off Union Square. The small shop caters to an array of customers: businessmen, students, and the daily passerby. Regardless of their status, all of Krust’s patrons are attracted by the enticing 1 dollar price stamp. Gold’s job is a full time commitment, working Friday and Saturday till 5am. “We sell a lot of these [indicating the pizza’s in the case of pizza’s over $2.75], but yeah, around 1 or 2 am that’s [1 dollar pizza] what sells. But look at all the pizza, it’s gorgeous” flaunts Gold. Along the Eastern wall of the small storefront hang framed photographs of Gold with celebrity customers, not a rare sight in New York City. Gold and his famous counterpart pose with a slice of pizza raised to their lips in each and every shot. The flash apparent in each photograph a silent time stamp- even celebrities like cheap pizza at 2am. At night Krust turns into an extension of the bars and clubs in the surrounding area. A storefront with no doors, the pizzeria leaks out onto ever populated 14th street. “It’s just fun in general, it’s always something different-it’s great. Especially at night, we’ve got the music turned up, we feed all the bars and the nightclubs and everything.” says Gold.

Gold’s dollar slice feeds the homeless, the hungry, the drunk, and the depleted, “It’s 14th street, it’s something different everyday. They’re good people, we take care of them here.”