Twenty-somethings turn passion for pizza into an app and philanthropic cause

High school friends Cyrus Summerlin and Max Hellerstein have always loved pizza.

Both just 20-years-old, the two combined different slices of experiences over a year and a half to create the iPhone App, Push for Pizza - whose slogan is "the simplest way to order pizza from your favorite pizzeria."

The name gives it away. A user decides what topping they want on their pizza, the image of the topping pops up on the screen, the credit card information is synced, and the pizza is on the way.

"We cater our product to people who just want one thing, and they already know what they want," Hellerstein said.

For the past 8 months, Summerlin and Hellerstein and their four other friends have been on an 80-college tour across the east coast. On October 6, they stopped at Syracuse University. 

"Our short term goals are to create a presence on each of the colleges that we’re going to," Summerlin said.

Throughout the day, they were encouraging students to download the app. There was not only an incentive of free pizza, but they were also promoting a good cause.

Push for Pizza partnered with the SU sorority Alpha Epsilon Phi and local pizzeria Gianni's for their first-ever philanthropy event. At 7 p.m., the first 50 students to order pizza on the iPhone app received a free pizza hand-delivered by Push for Pizza.

"We are going to do some good with it today and put [the money] towards a good cause," Summerlin mentioned. All tips that were made on the app went to AEPHI's national non-profit, Sharsheret, to benefit young women diagnosed with breast cancer. 

The Push for Pizza staff, along with the women of AEPHI, delivered the pies across the SU campus. Some people were startled that the pizza actually arrived. As they delivered the pies, the delivery boys asked the customers how easy the pizzas were to order and would the customers do it again. Both answers for most customers were "yes."

Overall, AEPHI raised $208 that night.  The 50 pies sold out within two minutes, a record for Push for Pizza. It is their hope that people will continue to use their app after such events. "Our long-term goal is just becoming more of a thing in people’s lives," Summerlin said. "Like 'Oh I'm going to Push For Pizza tonight.'"