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He let out a long sigh. “I’m guessing a few people will get nostalgic.”
“Fuck that,” Jay cut in. “The second you make the announcement everyone and their mother is going to flock here for one last slice. People who’ve been coming to this restaurant since they were kids are bringing theirgrandkidshere now. Everyone’s going to rush in to see the place — and to eat the best pie in town — one last time before it all comes to an end.”
“People are nostalgic about the mall, too,” said Luca. “They have happy old memories; burned into their brains. They’ll want to relive this place one more time before it goes down.”
“You’re going to be so busy you’ll run out of product,” I went on. “So order extra. And people coming here for the last time will be generous. That tip jar over there will be overflowing.”
Tyler shrugged. “The employees get all the tips.”
“Good for them,” I said. “And right next to that tip jar, a week or two later, we’re going to put up another sign with a big barcode. When people scan it, it’ll take them straight to this:
With that, I double-tapped my phone’s screen and slid it across the table. Tyler looked at it for a few long moments, his eyebrows coming together.
“What is this?”
“That’s the Kickstarter we’ll launch, to get your ovens moved.”
“Myovens?”He blinked a few times. “Moved where?”
“To one of these two locations,” Jay offered, sliding his own phone next to mine. “Both are located within strip malls, less than a mile from here. Both are also zoned for food service with full commercial hookups.”
We paused to let him look at the photos, and even the maps. Tyler’s fingers moved slowly, zooming in and out for a solid minute while the rest of us waited.
“There are other places for rent too,” I continued, “but they’re either too far or they have less traffic. These are your best options. I’ve already talked to the landlord’s real estate agent, and—”
“You really think people will pay for us tomove?”Tyler asked incredulously.
All three of us nodded in unison. Luca even pointed over Tyler’s shoulder.
“Look at the weekday crowd you have right now,” he said pointedly. “And this is all for you. The liquor store isn’t even open yet. The rest of the mall is closed.”
Tyler bit his lip, which he tended to do whenever he was in deep thought. I’d always told him it was cute. It still was.
“When you move this place, these people will come with you,” Luca went on. “And not only that, but imagine theextrafoot traffic you’ll get when you’re in a strip mall. One that’s thriving instead of dying. One with supermarkets and other stores that are actually open.”
“And after you put up the Kickstarter,” I added, “we take out an ad in the local paper. You thank the community for fifty years of love and support. You invite everyone down for ‘one last slice’, and you post all kinds of Facebook updates with photos of just how long the lines are.”
“People will come in waves,” Jay agreed. “Especially when they see photos of the lines stretching out the door and into these old hallways. Everyone remembers Aegean pizza, and everyone has a fear of missing out. FOMO is a very real thing.”
I could see the wheels turning now, in the back of Tyler’s mind. He was trying to come up with any good reason why what we were saying didn’t make any sense.
“Look, we set the Kickstarter goal to whatever you need to move the entire kitchen over,” I said. “You’ve got thousands of people who won’t want to see this place disappear forever, so I expect you’ll reach it.”
“Maybe…” Tyler conceded. “I don’t know, Jenna. It just feels like…”
“Don’t,” Luca cut in. “Trust me, everyone who loves this place has an extra ten or fifteen bucks. Opening their wallets this one time isn’t going to break them, and a lot of them will be thrilled to have helped keep this place alive rather than see it die when the mall goes down.”
Gradually, Tyler’s expression started to change. There was renewed excitement in his eyes now. Maybe even a little hope.
“And if wedon’treach the Kickstarter goal?” he ventured. “What then?”
I shrugged. “In that case, at least you can say you tried. Either way you’ll go out with a loving sendoff from your customer base. A fitting end to a great restaurant.”
“And you’ll have something else, too,” Jay added slyly.
“What’s that?”
“Three or four of the biggest weeks this place has ever seen.”
