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Date: 4/2/2020
EAST LONGMEADOW – Many eateries are struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic that has shut down restaurant dining rooms and resulted in many patron’s losing their jobs, and hence, their dining dollars. Fazio’s Ristorante & Pizzeria wants people to know, “you’ve got a friend in Fazio’s.”
Owner Aldo Fazio has streamlined his business to feed as many families as he can on any given night, while keeping his employees and customers safe. To do this, service is now strictly curbside. “Pull up, grab and go,” Fazio said.
Fazio explained how it works. Fazio’s has curtailed its menu to family dinners, pizza and wings. The family dinner menu is posted on the restaurant’s website the night before and people can begin placing orders at 11 a.m.
Pickups are scheduled in half-hour time slots, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., to limit the number of patrons there at once. All orders are pre-paid and bagged. Customers just drive up at their scheduled time, take the bag with their name on it and drive away.
The family dinners, which generally include an entree, salad, and bread and butter for four, costs $25. Fazio said they were previously charging $20, but have had to go up to compensate for the dining room closure.
“We’re doing it because fast nickels are better than slow dimes,” Fazio said. He added the business is losing about 30 percent of its revenue with the dining room closed.
Fazio has one person posted by the door to assist customers and a total of four people working the car line. The restaurant is also offering free delivery to the area.
Using this model, Fazio has been able to keep 96 percent of his staff working. He said his only concern is for the employees at the door, “if somebody is not feeling well when they come” to pick up the food.
The restaurant is only able to make a limited number of family dinners each day to keep up to standards. Fazio’s posted on its Facebook page a request that, if they run out of dinners, people visit another local restaurant. Fazio’s recently banded together with 25 other restaurants for the “Strength in Numbers” joint gift card sale, which offered diners a $20 voucher with each $100 spent on gift cards from March 28 to March 30.
Fazio said he understands that money is tight for many families who have faced layoffs and business closures due to the coronavirus. Because of that, the restaurant made an offer.
“If you are stretched thin to feed your family tonight (or any other night during this unsettling time) please contact Aldo directly, and we will feed your family for free. No questions or judgments; you don’t even have to state your name,” Fazio’s wrote on its Facebook page on March 19. Since then, the owner said, only one person has redeemed that offer.
“I'm not doing this to promote myself in any way. I'm just trying to keep people fed,” Fazio said. “This is new for everybody.”
Fazio said members of the public have reached out to the restaurant for delivered meals for two families in Springfield, paid for by Father Wayne of St. Michael’s Parish and resident Rose Stella, who works with the church. Another man donated $200 for Fazio’s to feed the respiratory nurses at Baystate Medical Center, approximately 35 people.
As an extra way to give back to the community, Fazio’s is running a Hearts for Healthcare Workers campaign, in which kids can make hearts to thank healthcare workers and they will be put up in the windows at the restaurant.
Fazio’s Ristorante & Pizzeria is located at 162 Shaker Rd. The restaurant is open Tuesday through Saturday, with Sundays and Mondays off to “regroup” and give employees time with their families, Fazio said.