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The Dublin family had just purchased Peppino's Tomato Pies on West Butler Avenue in Chalfont in the summer of 2022, when they became victims of an egregious crime leaving them all — including the elementary school-aged children — traumatized.
Then, 10 months later, their home was invaded in the middle of the night.
Financially, they were barely scraping by.
"It was the worst year of our lives," said Keeley Rosenthal, who runs Peppino's with her husband, Ed.
"Trying to take care of our girls and their mental health, and what occurred in our family was a challenge. Ed was at the shop six days a week, so many hours, and we were barely making it."
Things were so bad, in fact, that the Rosenthals were considering selling Peppino's.
That is, until Barstool Sports CEO Dave Portnoy came along last week, Keeley said.
"My husband called me saying Dave's camera guy ordered a pizza, and at the time, he had no idea who it was," Keeley tells Daily Voice. "Then 15 minutes later a limo pulled up in the front of the restaurant and Dave got out."
Ed called Keeley in tears.
"We knew exactly what that meant for us," Keeley said. "It was the best news we had gotten in years."
The very next day, lines wrapped around Peppino's, and the Rosenthals couldn't keep enough supplies on the shelf.
"I really like it," the CEO and self-proclaimed pizza connoisseur said after biting into a Peppino's tomato pie.
His rating? 7.8. Users rated it an 8.3 on the One Bite app.
Ed — who spent decades working a corporate gig for Bertucci's — and Keeley, have been meeting with business coaches and marketing experts, hoping that the momentum from Portnoy's visit will carry them into 2024 stronger than ever.
"Being a small business owner and feeling the small business crunch, with rising inflation and how much our food cost has gone up since when we first bought the business — we try not to pass that on to the customer," said Rosenthal, who works full-time as a social worker for Bucks County.
"We want people to come back and we don’t want to keep raising our prices. It’s tough when profit margins are shrinking and the people behind that business are a family with two kids who are just trying to make ends meet."
Keeley broke down crying.
"This is the hardest work we've ever done," she said. "So when someone comes like that and gives you the publicity for free, it's not enough to say thank you."
Peppino's is located at 449 West Butler Ave., in Chalfont.
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