Posted on 12/15/2022 10:40:03 PM PST by nickcarraway
Hakki Akdeniz is the owner of Champion Pizza, with six shops across New York City and Long Island. He boasts nearly 29 million followers on Instagram as well as celebrity fans like Mike Tyson and Courteney Cox. Not long ago, however, Akdeniz, 42, was homeless and desperate on the streets of NYC.
Whether the animated Akdeniz knows a person or not, crossing paths with this Turkish immigrant-turned-total NYC character entails being showered with greetings, food and the occasional reminder that God is indeed great — all before a guest can get a single word in.
The pizza man’s meteoric rise is captured in the new documentary, “Hi… I’m Hakki Akdeniz,” out this Friday on Discovery+.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
“and the occasional reminder that God is indeed great “ -— Nicer way of saying what they like to say before killing us?
A pizza Nazi? “No pizza for you!”
Read the entire story. The tale of this fellow is so incredible it is almost to good to be true. A true old fashioned American guts, goodness, and grit success story.
Yes.
In a way, its easier to succeed when you have absolutely nothing. You have nothing to protect, you aren’t clinging to anything, your ego has been crushed, and any and all options are open
Looking at his sample “pizza” I would say he is more interested in the toppings than the dough. I am sure the ingredients are of good quality, but I have no idea why someone in NYC would choose his variation over one of the many very well executed pizzas in NY.
What a great story.
Leave it to Canada to not keep the one immigrant who wanted to work and get ahead and NOT depend on a handout.
“Akdeniz first arrived on America’s doorstep more than two decades ago entirely by accident”. You don’t get into the USA by “accident. If he entered on a tourist visa he had a date for exit. I suspect he was a visa overstayer.
I'm a really good pizza cook. 625 degrees, stone oven.
550 is for whimps.
The pic that you saw was a square, but they do rounds, also.
The rounds crust looks very good.
I read the whole story at the source, the NY Post. I like this guy but how many immigrant owned pizza shop can NYC support? Do they eat pizza in India? But I know that Hindus here love it.
Thin crust rules.
Then the fast food chains began to grow. I remember when McDonald's opened its first outlet in my neighborhood. There was much excitement among us kids at my Catholic school. And McDonald's began to draw customers from the pizzarias.
The 1980s saw the rise of fancy yuppie cuisine. Numero Uno opened a pizza outlet with its fancy pizza. The Italian places began to close or mimic the style, offering their own fancy pizzas.
By the 1990s, I began seeing mostly Latino workers in pizzarias, one of which was owned by a Russian Jew. It seemed most of the pizzarias were no longer Italian owned and run.
"Real Italian Pizza" outlets -- with their simple slices, and Sicilians (a type of fat, square pizza), and Italian Ices, and meatball subs -- were a phenomenon in NYC that seems to have largely come and gone. Today the pizza is fancier, and the owners and cooks are often not Italian.
Although I've long lived in Los Angeles, I'm a native New Yorker who spent many childhood years in those authentic Italian pizzarias.
You literally have nothing to lose. Its a different position than when you have stuff to protect and maintain and are responsible for.
Pizza got corporatized, like Vegas.
Great story
What a jackass thing to say.......
I think you missed his last words: "Be kind for no reason"
I grew up same place, but maybe 16 years before you. The pizza 5 blocks away was thin crust and delicious. Me and friends liked it when there was a large burnt cheese bubble near the crust. You put ten cents in the juke to hear Jimmy Page an Yardbirds play “Happenings Ten Years Time Ago >>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happenings_Ten_Years_Time_Ago
Of course the US was very low abortion and ran a trade surplus back then
8.4 million people live in New York. I'd say more than 6.
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