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Nick's Pizza is an Illinois eatery where families bring the kids, and you can throw the peanut shells on the floor. When Nick's announced it was facing foreclosure, the community rallied to save the beloved pizzeria. NBC's Ron Allen reports.
CRYSTAL LAKE, Ill. – Nick Sarillo was a carpenter who dreamed of owning a restaurant. So, he built one from the ground up and, of course, called it Nick's.
That was about 16 years ago. It's a warm fun-filled place, with a game room for the kids, lots of stuffed birds and other creatures oddly hanging from the rafters, peanut shells covering the floor, and lots of thin-crust pizza that's actually quite good to eat.
However, these days most customers aren't coming for the food. They are showing up for Nick and his team of about 200 employees. That's because Sarillo was staring foreclosure in the face.
Sarillo is a real go-getter, who expanded his business a few years back when times were good. He hired more people and opened a second restaurant, expecting the community, and its appetite for pizza, to keep growing.
The recession and rampant foreclosures stopped all of that. And it left Sarillo drowning in debt, with a lot of pizza on his hands.
Sarillo says he did everything possible to keep the ship sailing but ran out of options, except for one.
He wrote an impassioned email to his customers, about 16,000 of them. Basically, he admitted he screwed up, didn't cut back soon enough, didn't have a big enough rainy day fund, didn't anticipate how bad the economy would get.
Finally, he pleaded: "SO MY FINAL REQUEST NOW IS FOR EACH OF YOU TO COME TO NICK'S NOW AND TELL AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE TO COME NOW!" using capital letters and an exclamation point to make sure everyone knew how serious he was.
Well, that email went viral, and touched a lot of hearts. And when you look around the restaurant these days, it looks like most of the folks who got that email, and their friends and neighbors, showed up!
It certainly didn't hurt that Sarillo had donated thousands and thousands of dollars over the years to just about every local organization you can name, the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, local schools, Little League baseball teams… the list and the plaques in Nick's lobby go on and on.
So, to some extent Sarillo was just getting back a lot of what he'd already given.
That email doubled the number of customers for the week. Sarillo was able to pay his staff, and his bank. Even a little 4-year-old girl named Harper Kenney gave Sarillo five quarters from her piggy bank.
Sarillo says he is safely on the road out of red ink, for now.
Perhaps the moral of the story is: You get back what you give. Make great pizza, and let your customers leave the peanut shells on the floor.
If you wish to help Nick's, click here.
This is the message Nick Sarillo posted on Facebook, asking for help:
An Uncertain Future:
I have never understood why owners or management of a failing company usually don't give others close to the company-especially customers-fair warning about what is going on. In many instances, the team, the core family that built the business, has showed up to work and found the doors locked. I have always said I would never do that to the people I truly care about and owe my life to.
I realize that posting something like this here on FB is risky and unorthodox, but I don't care because I don't have anything to fear or hide. We run our business with totally open books, and the core team that shows up to our weekly fiscal huddles will not be surprised by what I'm writing. I truly care about our team and each guest that has blessed us by choosing to eat at Nick's instead of any of the many other places available to them.
As of the beginning of this last week, the hard reality facing us has become glaringly apparent to me. We overbuilt and overspent, and then we didn't cut fast enough or hard enough when sales started to go downhill. The issue is primarily with our Elgin restaurant, but because we are one company, the failure of Elgin will likely impact Crystal Lake as well, depending on the choices our bank makes. This failure is not the fault of our team members; on the contrary, I am extremely grateful to them for their incredible contributions, including accepting salary cuts, taking on more responsibilities, and volunteering to market us on their own time. The whole responsibility for our troubles is mine for making the bad decisions that got us into this mess.
I realize that many of you out there see a busy restaurant and don't understand how we cannot be profitable, or as many of you have expressed, how we could not be "rolling in cash." We do bring in a lot of revenue, but unfortunately that is not enough to cover our mortgage and the other expenses that accrue from having such large facilities. In 2008, sales at our Elgin location began to drop, causing that location to lose money. Fortunately, Crystal Lake was profitable enough to cover both restaurants most of the time. As of this year, that's no longer true. The sales drop in Elgin alone has been 30% since last year and close to 50% since 2007, thanks largely to the bad economy and road construction.
We thought that the opening of a new Walmart across the street from Elgin on October 26th would bring enough new traffic to save that location and our company. Unfortunately, the bills that we have been pushing back this year are catching up with us now, about four weeks short of the finish line. Barring some sort of miracle, we are going to run out of cash to pay our vendors and team members over the next couple of weeks and will have to close. Believe me, I have already tried everything possible and would not be writing this if the amount we needed was not many thousands of dollars more than I personally could come up with. I really did believe we were going to make it to the finish line and pull through this, but I have nothing left that I can sell, pawn, or promise-just my business, which now is on the table.
I do have one last hope for me and the 200 team members of Nick's. If within these next four weeks we could see a large increase in sales at either of our restaurants, we could still pull through. SO MY FINAL REQUEST IS FOR EACH OF YOU TO COME TO NICK'S NOW AND TELL AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE TO COME NOW! Even if you don't wish to see us survive and continue to be a part of the community, then at least come to say good-bye. If you wish to contact me with investor ideas or any ideas or questions at all, you can email me at office@nickspizzapub.com, call me at 815-356-5557, or simply stop by and talk in person.
Thank you- Nick Sarillo.
Leave a Comment:
I will post Nick's Pizza shop on my Twitter website and hope others in Chrystal Lake at lease take one trip a month to help Nick stay in business. The numbers are on his side with the people he sent letters to. It is a wonderful life when you see just how kind people are and reach out to help. He helped his community and now it seems the community can now do the same. I am a believer that when you give from the heart without looking for something in return, you get back 7 times what you have given out. We see so many corruption corporations/banks and even Law Makers who will take the gold tooth out your mouth but Nick brings pride back to real honest business people. Jeff Immelt might want to give Nick a call and take lessons on how to succeed in being a CEO who puts people ahead of profit and greed.
Small business is eventually where it's at. This guy is still small enough to be bailed out by customers changing their dinner plans every once in a while. That's how it should be.
What were we thinking with WalMart, BoA, Goldman Sachs? Is that the America we wanted (as Bill Cosby asks his son about his hair cut, a reverse mohawk)?
This guy has a simple problem with a simple solution, where these other mega-corporations have mega profits or mega problems that require, in either case, the tax payer to be screwed.
This is the America I grew up in. You went to the store, and you knew the guy behind the counter, and he knew you, and he wanted your business, so he didn't treat you like a 'fleabagger.'
Are we tired of this yet? Fee free to sound off, or join some group in some state trying to sound off.
Ron Allen call Nick, "Rick". And no one caught it before this piece aired? Sloppy!
Yes, the articles could use better proof reading. You got 'em.
Of course, you could be one of the unfortunates watching or reading Fox Propaganda, where it's not the names they have wrong, it's all the facts.
It's not about the article. Ron Allen calls Nick, "Rick". It is a poor producing job and a bad job by Ron Allen! I am not attacking NBC because I like FOX. I don't watch FOX. I think NBC did a bad job here.
This is a great story and I wish this guy all the luck because he's not asking for a hand out, he's asking for a hand up and the community God bless them are hooking the guy up. I live for reports like this one because they help me regain my faith in what we are supposed to be all about, helping each other. jackierawlings you got it right when you said "7 times" because that's what is happening here. This is just plain wonderful. Oh, and thanks to all the folks that stood up for this guy God bless you all!!!!
It took intestinal fortitude and a great heart for him to write that email. When you read the entire email you can see just what kind of person Nick must be. I am half way across the country from him and a little slim on dollars myself right now, or I'd have him UPS me a half dozen of his pies to share with my friends.
I hope this story will cause others in other towns to sit up and take notice of their local business owners. Many are struggling. Perhaps just a purchase of a few dollars here and there could save a few more of our country's local businesses...yes, I know it is not always that simple. But we do need to take a look at our local businesses, and remember that we probably have a few "Nicks" close to home.
Nick's a great community guy and his food is good.
I immediately clicked on this story because I am a small business owner of a restaurant, no less. I just had a staff meeting tonight with my employees to discuss ideas, cost saving and marketing. It is a tough economy and I just can't wait for customers to come in anymore. I have to find more creative ways to get noticed or get my food delivered. I have often wondered about this type of plea to your customer base or local community. It's embarrassing to say you are stuggling but I was very encouraged by this story and I thank M. Forrest for acknowleding small business in all of our communitites!
MFORREST, thank you for pointing out to us that we should look at our own local businesses!
I am a local business owner, and we too are struggling. It is so right that a purchase of a few dollars here and there could save more businesses (including ours). With the economy down so, I understand how hard it is to buy anything! And often it's easier to buy at a chain store (ie. Wal-Mart) than it is to go to a local store--office supply, hardware store, grocery, etc. Still I beg you each to make the effort!
SHOP LOCAL! SHOP SMALL BUSINESSES! It will help!
This story really hit home.I too am a small business owner who had to shut my doors down.I had a place in a Westfield Mall in Bonita California.After spending almost $400,000.of my money to build it and $20,000. a month rent it didn't take me long to get into trouble.I had to let go of 8 employes and I mortgaged my house to the hills used up all the savings I had.Now I am being sued for breaking the lease for another $200,000.Talk about an organization that wants your blood its Westfield.I am a 66year old man.How can I ever recoup my losses?I like Nick overspent in a bad economy.I really wish Nick lots of success for having the fortitude to keep on trying when all seemed dismal.
You are both right and wrong. Money is created during a loan but a bank has to have a percentage of that amount deposited. Where it gets weird is when the money that was created is then deposited. The bank can use this amount to float another loan. You really need to understand fractional reserve banking to truly understand 'money creation'.
You guys will love California where nothing stays a secret. For all the talk and guessing about Gov. Christi thinking about running for President it took Meg Whitman to let the cat out of the bag. Christi led donors to believe he really was considering running for office but was campaigning to test the waters. LIE!!! Meg Whitman said she would do a fundraiser in Christi's name if he promised not to run for office he agreed. Christi was here in California raising money while saying he was think it over as to running for President when two weeks before his announcement he had already made up his mine. The fundraiser donations are for Mitt Romney's campaign as Mrs. Whitman is helping him with his campaign. Trust isn't big on these candidates list of things to do as all those people thought it was Christi they were giving money too and the Media pushed the story told to them. If we haven't learn you really have to be careful about who you trust these days because I watched Gov. Christi give his speech about deciding not to run for President and had no idea he had decided two weeks before. Some secrets should never come out because people learn how they were trick yet again.
Just a little bit of evening California news
Refinance rates were higher today with PNC and Chase raising them but Bank of America and Citibank lowering them to find your rates with out SSN "123 Refi" is the best
Chrystal Lake isn't that where Jason Voorhees killed all those people?
A wonderful story, and I was touched. Truly. My grandson Kyle loves pizza and everybody knows how much I love Kyle.But I don't get the bad press about
corporations like General Electric. If it had not been for my experience with GE I
would not have met such wonderful people who are my kind of people and, hey,
in Detroit, they think CEO Jeff Immelt is the Second Coming, and I will vouch
for him. Only met him once, but first impressions and all that. You would have had to
been there. His critics could not
run a company like General Electric. Sour grapes. If anybody can turn the
economy around, it's Mr. Immelt, and his appointment by President Obama
was the right thing to do for our country.
Seems all the really smart people in New York who work for corporation keep telling us they're evil so I guess we should believe it. After all look what trusting them has done for us so far. bahahahahaha
Smart will only get you so far because first you have to know something:o)
Have a nice day. as everPhyllis
Yea a million here and a million there. These guys are not 1 million or 500k. They sit around having meetings spew @!$%#.
Anyone with a degree in economics can run that show. We 22 million unemployed. Paying the GM CEO more then what the president gets is insane and stupid.
Great place and would hate to see it buckle under in this stingy economy. Heartwarming story indeed!