When Dave Portnoy, founder and president of media firm Barstool Sports activities, stepped into Baltimore-based pizza store TinyBrickOven, he did not know the shop was in its ultimate days — or that he would play a vital half in saving it.
In a video posted on YouTube and social media on Monday, Portnoy ordered a pizza from TinyBrickOven for his One Chunk Pizza Evaluations channel, which has over 1.3 million subscribers on YouTube (and all people is aware of the principles).
Whereas ready for his meals, Portnoy chatted with the shop’s proprietor, Will Fagg, who revealed that TinyBrickOven was closing eternally in a number of days, on Christmas.
“We’re simply not making any cash man, it has been loopy,” Fagg stated, including that TinyBrickOven had been unable to get its liquor license, however a spot close by had, which put his restaurant at an obstacle.
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Portnoy paid for the pizza and took his chew exterior. His first impression of the slice was that it was a “superb” New York-style pizza and that he “actually favored it.”
“There is no means this place needs to be going out of enterprise, none,” Portnoy stated. He walked again to the shop and requested Fagg, “How a lot cash do it’s good to keep open for a 12 months?”
Fagg stated $60,000 — and Portnoy stated, “Carried out.” Portnoy rated the slice a 7.9 out of 10.
The free publicity that got here subsequent, reaching hundreds of thousands of individuals, can be priceless.
Barstool Pizza Evaluate – TinyBrickOven (Baltimore, MD) pic.twitter.com/hDqhclD45D
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) December 23, 2024
Because it was posted earlier this week, Portnoy’s video with TinyBrickOven has been considered 14.5 million times on X and 300,000 times on YouTube. The publish has virtually 70,000 likes on Instagram as of press time. Fagg advised CBS News that on Christmas Eve, TinyBrickOven had a line out the door and the cellphone was consistently ringing.
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“It seems like a Christmas miracle,” Fagg advised the outlet. “We have by no means had a crowd like this.”
After Portnoy’s video took off, different donations got here pouring in.
TinyBrickOven’s web page on GoFundMe exceeded $120,000 in donations on the time of writing. Portnoy advised CBS that Fagg obtained his separate $60,000 donation by Wednesday.
Portnoy started filming pizza critiques in 2013 and now has a evaluate web site known as One Bite.
