Your slice at Andy's Pizza is powered by AI
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Andy's Pizza uses AI to power retro-feeling slice and pie shops slinging New York-style pizza. Photo: Deb Lindsey for The Washington Post via Getty Images
Behind the counter at Andy's Pizza, AI now helps direct everything from when mozzarella gets ordered to the moment a pie needs to hit the oven.
Why it matters: As big restaurant chains pour money into AI to cut labor costs, fast-growing D.C. pizza chain Andy's is betting custom-built AI tools can help it scale without sacrificing hospitality.
State of play: Andy Brown, a DJ turned restaurateur, has spent the past year quietly building what he calls "Andy's OS" — an AI-powered operating system for his restaurants.
- The homemade platform helps with everything from staffing schedules to the micro-decisions that go into being a line cook, like when to fire a pizza or grab proofed dough.
- Brown says he built much of it himself, despite having no formal coding background.
What they're saying: "That's where I see AI going," Brown tells Axios. "Now I, a nontechnical person with expert-level knowledge of my own business, can build software around the needs of my business."
Zoom in: Andy's still feels like a neighborhood pizza joint.
- Call any shop, and a person answers the phone. Walk in for a $4.50 slice, and there's someone behind the counter — no kiosks or QR-code ordering. But the company is growing fast, including snapping up the longtime Sbarro space in Union Station.
- Andy's now operates 14 DMV locations with roughly 350 employees, Brown says. Some stores sell upwards of 30,000 pizzas a week — and on weekend nights, Andy's routinely shuts off online ordering because kitchens hit capacity.
Zoom out: Restaurants are rapidly becoming tech companies.
- Chains like Chipotle and Starbucks are investing heavily in AI tools for scheduling, forecasting, inventory management and ordering systems.
- Locally, fast-casual giant Cava has also embraced tech-driven labor and kitchen optimization.
- But much of the industry's AI push has centered on efficiency and cost-cutting — even at fine-dining restaurants, where AI phone services now replace hosts.
Yes, but: Brown sees AI differently: as a way to give workers more time to focus on customers and food quality while avoiding what he calls a "robot restaurant."
- Brown says Andy's hasn't reduced headcount because of the tools.
- Plus: Customers have taken notice, he says, and they return because they're not dealing with kiosks and automated phones.
How it works: Much of Andy's AI happens quietly in the background — helping workers make hundreds of tiny decisions faster.
- Pizza forecasting: One of Brown's favorite tools predicts when pizzas should go into the oven based on how quickly slices are selling, so they're always hot and fresh. If slices start flying, the system alerts the kitchen before trays run empty — and counter staff "can just focus on being friendly" instead of doing math on the fly, he says.
- Scheduling: The system hyper-customizes scheduling to match Andy's exact business and labor requirements — from booking extra hands on delivery days to cleaning.
- Inventory: Employees can walk through the kitchen speaking inventory counts into their phones while AI transcribes and organizes everything in real time.
The intrigue: Brown believes AI could actually help independent restaurants compete with giant chains.
- Large companies often move slowly because of corporate bureaucracy, legal constraints and legacy software systems, he says.
- Meanwhile, smaller operators can experiment quickly and cheaply.
"People need to think about AI in their business, not AI the way McDonald's uses it," Brown says. "How does AI make your unique strengths bigger and louder?"