Owner of pizzeria targeted by protesters buoyed by support
The way Ted Fragiskos sees it, the way folks in St. Catharines rallied to step up and help his pizzeria that was the target of vicious messages and negative reviews on the weekend is proof people in the Garden City take care of their own.
Fragiskos, who runs Rollin’ Pizza at a strip mall on Lake Street with his wife, Jennifer, was forced to close the pizzeria for several hours Saturday after hundreds of anti-lockdown people filled the strip-mall parking lot, defying the new provincial stay-at-home order.
Fragiskos said numerous people from the rally, almost all not wearing masks and crowding tightly together, entered his pizzeria.
“They were coming in in groups, without masks and using the bathrooms and blocking doorways,” he said.
Some of the people entering the pizzeria became combative over the need for masks, a reflection of conspiracy-theory beliefs among at least some: One person at the rally held a sign suggesting physical distancing isn’t based on science and saying keeping people six feet (two metres) apart is “a made-up number to better track and trace us.”
To protect his staff, Fragiskos was forced to close his doors for several hours.
That didn’t sit well with some of the protesters, who bombarded the pizzeria with nasty emails and messages and posted poor reviews online as payback.
“We had people wishing we’d close forever, calling us sheep and mindless,” said Fragiskos. “We got some pretty nasty ones.”
He said it was ironic the goal of the rally was supposed to be showing support for small businesses hurting under shifting rules and restrictions during the pandemic, but it forced a number of those same small businesses in the strip mall to close. “It wasn’t fair for the businesses,” he said. “This was supposed to be about helping small business, but it really hurt small business.”
But, later in the day, Fragiskos said people hearing of the backlash rallied to support the restaurant as orders poured in and people took to social media to post glowing comments about the business and its staff.
“I was overwhelmed by the positive aspects that came from the negativity,” he said. “It really helps when there’s a supportive web of people at the end of the day.
“Not even thousands of people protesting can take that away,” he said. “The amount of customers who came to support us was amazing.”
On their Instagram page, the owners of the pizzeria posted support from the community was huge for them. “We are so thankful to all of the people who have sent us (messages) of love today,” Fragiskos said.
He said he’s a firm believer in freedom of speech, but not when it harms others trying to make ends meet and keep people employed.
“I understand the frustration of businesses, and it sucks when you’re not considered essential,” he said. “But it’s a worldwide pandemic. I’m just grateful that there was no physical damage and no one got hurt.”