Johnny’s Pizza

In this episode the Girls Who Do Stuff sit down with Johnny from Johnny’s Pizza to talk about the controversy surrounding the racist comments illegidly posted from his social media account. We discuss the FBI investigation, the death threats, the impact on his business, and the platform this situation has provided to talk about the racism issues in our country.Less than two weeks before we sat down with local pizza entrepreneur, Johnny, from Johnny’s Pizza, his company was engulfed in a suspicious and racist post that went viral. This post spread quickly. Although initially dismissed by Johnny as a joke, in reality, a fake account was created with his profile picture and screen captured with hate speech against black people. Johnny talks about what happened, the FBI investigate, out of state death threats, and Facebook subpoenas, and the fallout that has impacted his family, (which is staying in a separate hotel because of the death threats), his business, and the platform that this situation has afforded Johnny to talk about these issues. Johnny is 10 years in recovery and has had some run-ins with the law. We talk about how people in that situation are “damned if you do, and damned if you don’t” when it comes to being given the benefit of the doubt by public opinion. Johnny answers the question: “What do you say to people who want proof?” Hear Johnny’s thoughts on what he believes is next for the future of dining. What the changes forced on businesses due to COVID-19 caused many restaurants to pivot to offer curbside that has fundamentally changed the dining experience. “All that did is take fast-casual, and now we’re competing with Chick-fil-A. The mom-and-pop-pizzeria-experience is gone.” “Executing on the quality of food that is delivered, that is the niche. That’s what’s going to be the difference-maker for people who are still going to want the dining out experience. I just think that they’re going to have to tweak it and say, I want the food of the dine-out experience, not the actual dining experience.”