These restaurant owners raised money for out-of-work staff by starting a “pizza speakeasy” in their backyard

Many restaurants have adapted their business models from dine-in to takeout during the coronavirus pandemic. Other restaurants have been forced to shut down entirely. That was the case for Philadelphia restaurant owners Joe and Angela Cicala, who came up with a creative plan to support their out-of-work staff and do something fun for their community — a pizza “speakeasy.”

Video Transcript

ANGELA CICALA: You know what?

JOE CICALA: It's fine.

ANGELA CICALA: People in our neighborhood have said you know what? I had something to look forward to this week. You need a little happiness in the middle of this. I'm happy that we could be-- that we could do that.

JOE CICALA: We had a really great start. We opened up to rave reviews. And then COVID-19 hits. And then we have to close.

Once I watched every TV show, every on-demand, every YouTube video, I had it. I had to do something.

ANGELA CICALA: And he's like, you know, listen, I'm going to-- I'm building a wood oven today. Then he just went at it. He was building that oven seven days straight.

And then one day I smelled the firewood, and I'm like no way. It's working. He built that oven.

JOE CICALA: That got us thinking-- what if we just did a couple of pizzas and we just kind of made it a short little benefit for some of our out-of-work employees? That's the least we could do. We have a great staff that's very loyal.

ANGELA CICALA: And a lot of them have been with us for years. So I was like, we have to make this exclusive. People want to travel. They can't travel.

So I was like, we'll do it Napoli style. In Naples, you would definitely walk down an alley and get a pizza.

JOE CICALA: It's such an authentic experience to go through a back alley to someone's backyard to get an underground pizza that no one-- that one knows about. So we did this pop up. And in a half hour, we sold 200 pizzas.

And then everyone starts talking about. They're like how can get a pizza? Where can I find-- what did they call it? Where can I get this bootlegged pizza?

We didn't apply for the permit. And I thought that maybe there would be more understanding or pliable rules during this time period.

We are going to continue to do this because our staff deserves to have this income. And we will continue to do everything in our means to assure our staff that they will always have a place to work.

ANGELA CICALA: People loved this. It was for a reason to help our staff, yes. But to see the reaction from people who have been locked in the house for months, to see just a little pizza made them this happy. I feel like we're going to still do it. They were just really excited that something like this existed.