A sisters-owned pizza institution in Minnesota which recently closed after fire damage has received a big slice of help from the community.
In the early morning hours of July 11th, firefighters responded to a call as smoke poured from the roof of Jakeeno’s Pizza on the corner of Chicago Avenue and 36th Street in South Minneapolis.
Crews found an active fire burning beneath the roof membrane and had to open multiple sections of the roof to put it out. The restaurant was closed and empty at the time, and so the damage was luckily limited to just pocketbooks and bank accounts.
“Thankfully, we’re very well insured and we’re just kind of waiting for that process to happen,” said current co-owner Amy Keegan. “We’re just waiting on the insurance claim to come through. They’re doing their due diligence on their end.”
In the meantime, the shop has closed, but a local hospitality entrepreneur named Bob Tinsley organized a GoFundMe to support Amy and her sister Patty, as well as the whole staff whose jobs are on ice while Jakeeno’s is rebuilt.
The community has since responded compassionately, contributing $21,000 from 291 donations.
“We want them back; we appreciate them. We feel terrible that they lost their jobs from this and so we’re just trying to keep everybody whole,” Patty Keegan told CBS News.
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GoFundMe contributions will go to paying the cooks, wait staff, and bartenders, but interested parties can also support Jakeeno’s by buying their brand pasta sauce and frozen pizzas available at local grocery stores and co-ops.
It’s not the first time the restaurant’s doors, which have remained open for half a century, have been under pressure to close. Jakeeno’s survived the Great Recession, COVID-19, and the rioting following the murder of George Floyd which occurred just two blocks away.
With a little help from the neighbors who so often tuck into one of their pies, Jakeeno’s can survive this too.
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