According to the New York City Department of City Planning's publication, titled, "The Newest New Yorkers," between 1990 and 1994, some 925 Albanians immigrated to New York City, and between 1995 and 1996, Albanian immigration to New York City increased by 154.9 percent, largely due to the escalating violence in the region of Kosovo (Gorman pp). .

             There are many success stories among the Albanian immigrants, such as Haki Krasnigi from Kosovo (Casey pp). . He is the owner of Sal's Pizzeria. Although he comes from a country where pizza is mostly unheard of and dishes such as byrek and grosh are the norm, Krasnigi speaks Albanian in the kitchen and is very passionate concerning the fate of his native country (Casey pp). The 52-year-old immigrant is only one among scores of other Albanian immigrants who have discovered that twirling pizza dough is one way to succeed in America (Casey pp). In fact, it is estimated that as many as seventy-five percent of the pizzerias in Bergen County, New Jersey are owned by Albanians (Casey pp). .

             Paterson, New Jersey has at least three Albanian-owned pizzerias, and a dozen more pizzerias and Italian-style restaurants across New Jersey are owned by Albanians, such as Agron Mulita, a 27-year-old Albanian who bought the Arta Cafe Gourmet Pizza in Bogota five months ago and says that people do not care if an Italian or an Albanian owns the restaurant, they come because they like the food (Casey pp). In the New York metropolitan area, Albanian restaurateurs and the Albanian Yellow Pages in New York estimate that more than two hundred restaurants and pizzerias are run by immigrants from Kosovo, Albania, and Macedonia (Casey pp). The ethnic shift is a seemingly typical immigrant story of hard work and good timing (Casey pp). .

             Albanian immigration can be divided into four distinct stages (Fischer pp).

             The first began during the last decades of the nineteenth century and involved mostly Orthodox Christians from the Korce region who emigrated in part because of economic problems, but also to escape the prevailing political turmoil, which is essentially the same motivations that encourage emigration today (Fischer pp).