Save NaRoma on Locke!
NaRoma Pizza has had to close its doors due to the reduction in demand for their top notch food and service partly due to the construction on Locke. Can we as a community come together to help them open their doors again and help this business owner and his family get back on their feet?
See his story below.
To The City of Hamilton,
My name is Mario Spina. Besides being a son and a husband, I am an Independent entrepreneur. Born and raised in the beautiful city of Hamilton, I am currently in my ninth year of owning and operating NàRoma pizza bar, located at 215 Locke St. South, in the heart of Hamilton.
The food industry is...putting it lightly, very fragile business; it is a constant day to day battle to make a brand prosperous.
In mid 2011 when I opened, the biggest challenge was ensuring people trusted in the brand I created, and maintained commitment to my brand, and my product, on a daily basis. That challenge didn't last long with our passion to deliver great food, great customer service, and the constant commitment to our customer’s needs.
That said, I have never missed a rent check in 9 years (108 months), never have missed our source deductions, never have been unable to pay out payroll, never been unable to process food supply orders along with HST -- and daily repairs/breakage. Fast forward to 2019, when construction began on Locke street: all those “nevers” shortly became the daily evers of NaRoma Pizza Bar. Over the past 9 years, I can still say that I love the jobs I've created, that I truly love my job, that I love being part of the community we have established on Locke, and that I love having been a part of rejuvenating the street or volunteering/donating throughout our city. However, this contract with the city, the company they have hired, and this prolonged street closure, destroyed my brand, my business, my life and now my family. I just recently moved my wife into my mother in law’s home because we can no longer afford rent in our apartment.
Construction began in February 2019. Since then i have not worked more than 35 hours a week. The construction workers starting time each day is after 8:00am, with constant breaks throughout the day, finishing up by 4:00pm, with not a single worker in sight. I've also documented many full working days of the week where not a single construction worker arrived on site. All that said, I offered all workers on the street a 50% off discount at NaRoma, to have lunch, or even to take out their families when they are done working for the day. Some days, with the discount we offered them, they were the only customers to walk through the doors as the road closures became too much for our regular clientele. With the workers being off on weekends and holiday’s our restaurant became a ghost town. Many customers would call while circling streets, ending up on one way streets, becoming frustrated, and therefore no longer wanting to pick up their placed orders, which we have already cooked. Comments such as "This is a nightmare", "How can you survive like this", "Every street is closed to get here", "When will this finally end”, have become commonplace.
I’ve recently opened up a “pop up shop” NàRoma on the Mountain to try and restore our customer loyalty that will no longer travel to Locke, trying to make some extra money; however, the wounds are way too deep. I’ve tried every 'special' you can imagine with food, wine, beer, patio specials, takeout specials, all to promote and make it enticing to visit NaRoma, despite the construction. What hurts the most, to me, is seeing, day after day, our food going to waste, whereas, previously, I would run out of pizza on a daily basis. My day to day operations of simply going to pick up product, takes 5 times longer. My garbage disposal, food deliveries, linen company, pest controls, to name a few, are impossible to afford and, also, some days, it is impossible for anyone to even get to our location; and if they do, they are always late. Since July, the amazing relationships I had developed with companies are now tarnished, and all trust has been lost. My sales, on average, have dropped 50%, since construction began. I haven’t been able to afford my own salary since April of this year, and, putting it lightly, until everything is paid off, I won’t see any income for at least another two years. To offset hired labour, I must put in many extra hours myself, therefore saving on payroll costs, which is next to impossible when one has not slept a full night in over 4 months. There is and will always be hard times for any business, especially in the food industry, but this loss is not a reflection on what I’ve created, but, rather, it's a reflection of what the construction has destroyed!
to bring back only the best for the city of Hamilton, I travelled to Italy before opening NaRoma, to learn true authentic Italian-style pizza making. I’ve won awards for my pizza; my business knowledge debuted on Bizz magazine, and then on national TV, for NàRoma, a number of times, not to mention on food networks #1 show, “You Gotta Eat Here”. My product has been voted best pizza in the city many times, winning diamond and gold awards over and over. The desperation to get the job done is minimal for those involved, but for me the construction has cost me everything.
i just don’t understand how the businesses on the street, that made the street and the city, were not incorporated in the budget.
This is not a cry for help, yet a plea TO HELP.
Desperately,
Mario Spina
