Our Story

When founder Paul Russo relocated to Orlando in the early 90’s, he didn’t realize that trying to get a good slice of authentic New York style pizza would be as difficult as it was. As a native New Yorker, he figured he’d just starve without authentic New York style pizza but instead Paul and his family decided to do something drastic about this appalling situation! In 1996 they opened the doors to the first NYPD Pizza and introduced authentic New York style pizza to the Orlando community. The people of the “City Beautiful” unconditionally fell in love and history was made.

Over the years NYPD Pizza has won over 30 “Best Of” Awards for pizza, wings, and more. Our brand has achieved international recognition and is known and praised for superior quality food, themed décor and upbeat atmosphere.

All pizzas are hand-tossed by a certified pizza maker and made to order fresh. An NYPD pizza starts with its own unique blend of pizza dough, the highest quality cheese available, and a specially homemade spiced tomato sauce. It’s then topped off with fresh toppings and baked in a specially designed brick oven. The pizza itself has created a loyal following throughout the world. Most importantly, at NYPD, the goal is to keep alive the neighborhood “mom and pop” pizzeria atmosphere of years gone by.

When customers from all over began inquiring on how they could bring an NYPD Pizzeria to their community, we realized the rest of the world was starving for Authentic New York style pizza too! In January 2004, NYPD launched the only authentic New York style pizzeria franchise in existence.