Dave Portnoy saves a struggling pizzeria with a $60,000 gift so it wouldn't go out of business

Competition in the hospitality industry has intensified over the past couple of decades making it hard for smaller businesses to stay afloat against fast food chains. Hundreds of eateries have closed their doors due to a lack of financial stability and it seemed like Baltimore’s TinyBrickOven pizzeria was headed for the same fate. But that was before Dave Portnoy walked through its doors.

The Barstool Sports founder is a pizza enthusiast and had little time to spare as he was driving through the city. He needed a bite and stopped at TinyBrickReviews on a day he spent reviewing various pizza places on his journey to Maryland as per the New York Post. Navy veteran Will Fagg stood behind the counter and was pleasantly surprised when he saw Portnoy enter.

There was a lot of enthusiasm in his voice, so much that you wouldn’t understand that his business was closing in a matter of days. The Barstool Sports founder was stunned when he learned about this and he asked the reason behind the place shutting down. “We can’t get our liquor license here,” Fagg said. “Our politicians gave this market down here their liquor license, but they won’t give us ours… it’s really disappointing.”

Financial instability was the issue for yet another small business. However, as soon as he took the first few bites of his pizza, Portnoy made it clear that he would help the place stay open. Fagg’s enthusiasm left a positive impression and the quality of the pizza was also impressive. Despite his place of business shutting down, the owner was helping veterans with every purchase as well. All these factors were enough for Portnoy to make up his mind.

“Well, if there’s somebody super rich right in front of your face who’s in the pizza business, and by serendipity is like, ‘What do you need to stay open for a year,’ you’ve got to give him some figure because then he’s going to walk away,” he said. Fagg, initially a bit taken aback by the offer, mentioned that they would require $60,000 to stay afloat for a year. “Done,” said Portnoy, making it a heartfelt video that has garnered well over 14 million views on X.

Since then, business has been booming for Fagg. Not only did his business not have to close down on Christmas, it made the most amount of money during that time. “We’ve never had a crowd like this,” he said as he explained how there was a line outside his shop and the phone rang non-stop on Christmas Eve.

The veteran owner had set up a fundraiser page for customers to help him stay afloat. After the video was released by Portnoy, people donated more than $50,000 in one day. It was nothing short of a miracle on one of the most important days of the year. “People say it’s a Christmas miracle. It kind of feels like a Christmas miracle,” Fagg added.

This time, he has been a recipient of some generous charity but one must note that Fagg has been helping the community in whatever way he can since opening TinyBrickOven. He donated 20% of his store’s earnings one week to help a Vietnam War veteran with house repairs. He had even hosted a soup kitchen during the pandemic to provide free food to the needy.