It’s a Christmas miracle — with all the toppings.
Thanks to Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy’s last-minute stop at a struggling Baltimore pizzeria, the veteran-owned shop can stay in business
Portnoy is the founder of the Barstool Sports empire but has branched off into doing his popular “one bite” pizza reviews.
‘We received record numbers of sales and donations yesterday and today.’
His “One Bite Pizza Reviews” YouTube account has nearly 1.5 million subscribers and almost a billion views. There is also a popular “One Bite” app with all of his pizza review scores.
One more slice
Earlier this month, Portnoy traveled to Maryland for the Army-Navy football game.
Portnoy and his producer had been driving been in the car for about eight hours and did about 10 pizza reviews. They were ready to call it a day; however, Portnoy wanted to visit a small pizzeria in Baltimore.
One Bite Pizza Reviews producer Austin Jenkins wrote on the X, “As we were driving out of Baltimore to our hotel in D.C., Dave found TinyBrickOven on the One Bite app. He asked if it was on our way, but it wasn’t. He said let’s just do it anyways, looks like it could be good pizza to review. A One Bite Christmas Miracle.”
Portnoy visited the TinyBrickOven pizzeria in the Federal Hill neighborhood of Baltimore.
TinyBrickOwner owner Will Fagg — a Navy veteran — was working when Portnoy went to pick up a pizza pie.
Fagg explained that the government was preventing him from acquiring a liquor license that could greatly benefit his business.
“We can’t get our liquor license here,” Fagg told Portnoy. “Our politicians gave this market down here their liquor license, but they won’t give us ours. … It’s really disappointing.”
Christmas closure
He explained that his business had been struggling, which would force him to shutter his pizza joint on Christmas Day.
In a video posted to the TinyBrickOven website, Fagg says: “I must share the most devastating news of my life — TinyBrickOven is scheduled to close permanently on Christmas Day. My heart is shattered, not just for myself, but for all of us. This isn’t just an end of a business, it feels like the end of a shared dream.”
The TinyBrickOven website states that the company has organized fundraisers for veterans, fed the homeless, raised money for the Maryland Food Bank, and hosted a volunteer event for the staff of the Washington, D.C. Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Before tasting the pizza, Portnoy declared: “We’re gonna have to keep this place open.”
Portnoy stepped out of the restaurant to do his review of the pizza. After being impressed with his slice, Portnoy went back inside the TinyBrickOven pizzeria to talk to Fagg.
An offer he couldn’t refuse
Portnoy asked the pizzeria owner, “Can I ask you something? How much money do you need to stay open for like a year?”
Fagg said he wasn’t sure of the exact amount to save his business.
Portnoy pressed, “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.”
Fagg replied, “I know it. Listen, I think we could probably get our liquor license and continue to stay open if we had $60,000.”
Without hesitation, Portnoy fired back: “Done.”
‘I’m gonna cry’
A gobsmacked Fagg exclaimed, “Oh, my gosh, man, this is unbelievable. Wow! I’m gonna cry.”
Portnoy assured Fagg that he’ll send him the money “before Christmas.”
“We’ll keep you open for a year,” Portnoy declared.
Portnoy admitted that it cost him $60,000, but stressed: “But whatever, I’m a nice motherf***er.”
Portnoy’s pizza review went viral, racking up nearly 15 million views on Twitter, almost 400,000 views on YouTube, and notching 70,000 likes on Instagram.
The viral video has caused business to skyrocket for the fledgling pizzeria.
Fagg told CBS News that the TinyBrickOven had a line out the door and phones ringing off the hook on Christmas Eve.
“We’ve never had a crowd like this,” he said.
A GoFundMe campaign for the pizzeria has raised nearly $130,000 at the time of publication.
“The very generous Barstool review basically broke the internet (our email server instantly crashed due to overwhelming email volumes),” the campaign reads. “We received record numbers of sales and donations yesterday and today.”
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Barstool sports, Dave portnoy, Christmas, One bite pizza reviews, Christmas miracle, Charity, Gofundme, Tinybrickoven, Tiny brick oven, Align