AJ Miller bakes just 15 pizzas a week in his Ocean Beach apartment, leaving more than 3,500 people on a waitlist for a single pie.
The 35-year-old Connecticut transplant launched the micro-operation, known as Echo Apizza, after losing his marketing job during the summer, nypost.com reported. Without a commercial kitchen, delivery fleet, or storefront, he turns out the 15-inch pies entirely from home.
The venture relies on a standard home oven cranked to its 550°F maximum, paired with a heavy baking steel plate to force maximum heat into the crust. Miller finishes each pie directly under the broiler to achieve the signature charred edges characteristic of New Haven-style apizza.
The dough undergoes a three-day cold fermentation utilizing sourdough, while toppings are sourced locally from San Diego purveyors. Customers who manage to claim one of the weekly order slots pick up their pies the following Friday.
Demand for the $25 to $30 pizzas surged after Miller documented his kitchen experiments on social media. His follower count now exceeds 114,000 users, turning the limited drops into a viral obsession among Gen Z and millennial foodies.
“I think people do like what they can’t get, so the exclusivity does play into it a bit,” Miller told Axios, as reported by nypost.com.
Miller moved to San Diego in 2020 and found himself craving the thin-crust, coal-fired style of his home state, which typically bakes at temperatures reaching 800 to 900 degrees. Lacking an industrial setup, he spent years refining his home-oven technique.
“It took a couple years to really perfect my craft,” Miller said, according to nypost.com. “I don’t think anything’s ever perfect, so I do think there’s little tweaks that I make each time, and it could always be better.”
The operation currently turns a profit, though Miller noted it is not yet enough to live off full-time. He plans to scale up slowly, with the ultimate goal of eventually operating out of a professional kitchen or a dedicated restaurant.
Meanwhile, online enthusiasm remains intense. “Found a guy in San Diego who makes pizza out of his apartment oven and it literally changed my life,” one customer wrote on social media, nypost.com reported.
