When Nick Roman graduated from T.C .Williams High School — now Alexandria City High School — in 1988, he was a customer at Fairlington Pizza. In 2024, he now serves the same community from behind the counter, after purchasing the restaurant 13 years ago.
Fairlington Pizza is a beloved cornerstone of the Alexandria community. The business is located at 1715 Centre Plaza and has served patrons since 1981. “Serving You With Quality New-York Style Pizza,” is Fairlington Pizza’s mantra, and highlights their specialty dish: New-York style pizza, along with other dishes such as steak subs and burgers.
Fairlington Pizza has donated thousands of dollars worth of food to the community. Over the years, Roman has strived to make sure the community has plenty of food.
“I grew up here and a lot of times, the only meal that I received was from the community,” Roman said. “I feel that a basic necessity of life is food, and nobody should be hungry.”
Roman is no stranger to the pizza industry. Starting as a customer for 25 years, he learned how to operate the business from the bottom up.
“I think if you want to go into a business, I think you have to go in and work it, just a regular person,” Roman said.
“That would be sort of like your college, that’s your trade,” he added, saying he was a “pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps person” who was able to succeed with little help.
Roman pointed out one of the best ways to make a business successful.
“If your product is good, you can have crates on the floor and people will come in,” he said.
Roman supports school programs such as Theogony and others with discounted products. Roman said that being a part of the community means a lot to him.
“I believe that if you’re part of the community, you have to really give back, and not get [distracted by] money,” he said.
Roman’s work for the community has been acknowledged with various awards, including the Alexandria Corporate Sponsor of the Year. He was most recently given an award by Keisha Caine, the mother of olympic gold-medalist Noah Lyles, for helping to feed Noah and his brother Josephus when they were in high school.
Fairlington Pizza has a retro design because Roman wants the customers to experience the original feeling from when he was a customer.
“It’s like walking back in the 1980s [and seeing the] kind of grumpy middle aged guy behind the counter,” he said.
Outside of running his pizzeria, Roman is involved with Alexandria in other ways.
“I like to work out, I love nature, volunteering, and community research,” he said.
Fairlington Pizza currently has a sister business: an animal sanctuary located in Stafford County, which Roman is looking to expand in the future.
“We believe that we have to give back in all ways,” he said. “Giving back to the environment is important to us. [We would] possibly expand with another non-profit down the road.”
Despite Roman’s ability to be self-reliant, he continues to be a positive influence on the younger generations of Alexandria as his business remains a core part of the community.
