When Dave Portnoy, founder and president of media company Barstool Sports, stepped into Baltimore-based pizza shop TinyBrickOven, he didn’t know the store was in its final days — or that he would play a crucial part in saving it.
In a video posted on YouTube and social media on Monday, Portnoy ordered a pizza from TinyBrickOven for his One Bite Pizza Reviews channel, which has over 1.3 million subscribers on YouTube (and everybody knows the rules).
While waiting for his food, Portnoy chatted with the store’s owner, Will Fagg, who revealed that TinyBrickOven was closing forever in a few days, on Christmas.
We’re just not making any money man, it’s been crazy,” Fagg said, adding that TinyBrickOven had been unable to get its liquor license, but a place nearby had, which put his restaurant at a disadvantage.
Related: Pizza Shop Owner Goes Viral After Bad Barstool Review, Says Business Is Booming
Portnoy paid for the pizza and took his bite outside. His first impression of the slice was that it was a “very good” New York-style pizza and that he “really liked it.”
“There’s no way this place should be going out of business, none,” Portnoy said. He walked back to the store and asked Fagg, “How much money do you need to stay open for a year?”
Fagg said $60,000 — and Portnoy said, “Done.” Portnoy rated the slice a 7.9 out of 10.
The free publicity that came next, reaching millions of people, would be priceless.
Barstool Pizza Review – TinyBrickOven (Baltimore, MD) pic.twitter.com/hDqhclD45D
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) December 23, 2024
Since it was posted earlier this week, Portnoy’s video with TinyBrickOven has been viewed 14.5 million times on X and 300,000 times on YouTube. The post has almost 70,000 likes on Instagram as of press time. Fagg told CBS News that on Christmas Eve, TinyBrickOven had a line out the door and the phone was constantly ringing.
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“It kind of feels like a Christmas miracle,” Fagg told the outlet. “We’ve never had a crowd like this.”
After Portnoy’s video took off, other donations came pouring in.
TinyBrickOven’s page on GoFundMe exceeded $120,000 in donations at the time of writing. Portnoy told CBS that Fagg received his separate $60,000 donation by Wednesday.
Portnoy began filming pizza reviews in 2013 and now has a review website called One Bite.
Related: He Opened a Pizza Restaurant to Serve the Native American Community. It Was So Successful He’s Opening 20 More.
