Friday Fun: A Pizzeria Transitions from Pepperoni to PPE to Help Battle COVID

For years, Chicagoans have been lining up outside Dimo’s Pizza on Clark in Wrigleyville (just two blocks south of the Cubs’ “friendly confines”) and the newer location on Damen in Wicker Park to get a slice of their great pies.

But when COVID-19 hit and Gov. Pritzker (D) responsibly mandated restaurants, clubs and bars shut their dining room doors, Dimo’s lost 70% of their revenue. They still did curbside pickup and added BYOP (Bake Your Own Pizza) kits, but income lagged and it would be impossible to keep their staff employed.

Additionally, they were shocked about the horror stories across America from Trump’s inept pandemic management that forced healthcare workers in the trenches to also deal with PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) shortages.

The owner, Dimitri Syrkin-Nikolau, started thinking about how to help protect healthcare folks AND keep his loyal staff gainfully employed. So he started calling everyone he could think of for ideas. He began by  talking with his sister, who is a doctor, and then added engineering friends and digital designers.

He learned his pizza ovens in the front (the pies are baked in wood ovens in the back and then reheated either by the slice or whole up front when ordered to ensure a crispy crust) could be easily repurposed to mass produce protective face shields!

He worked with Avenue Metal, Co. to make the molds to shape the shields, and in two weeks the prototype shield was made with a blow torch, some acrylic and the stainless-steel molds. In another week they had perfected the art (and right temperature and duration) for softening sheets of acrylic in their reheating ovens. They only stay in the oven for 30-45 seconds before draping them over the mold and then pressed down with a mirror-image mold on top – so it’s very fast.

Once cooled, the shields have foam forehead strips and Velcro securing straps attached. “It really is a very quick process,” Dimitri says. “Whether it’s slinging slices or slinging acrylic, it’s similar principles.”

Unlike wood-fired ovens to bake the pizzas, the Bakers Pride Gaslight Oven used upfront to reheat the pies is temperature controlled to assure quality control for the acrylic. And Dimitri adds, “Plus there are no ashes!”

It wasn’t long before Dimitri was fielding calls from pizzerias across America as well as from London and Kuwait on how they could replicate the process.

Dimitri shared that when he checked, face shield prices on Amazon typically ranged from $15 to $30. While Dimo’s is not able to economically give them away, they charge a nominal fee of $5 a mask. They can crank out 5,000 masks a week, and have been able to keep the entire front house staff employed!

It’s definitely been a Win-Win-Win: Dimo’s – the staff – healthcare workers.

And Dimo’s Pizza concern for the community didn’t end just with making PPE face shields – they’ve also donated hundreds of pies to hospitals and homeless shelters all across Chicago during the COVID Pandemic!

But currently, Dimo’s is the only pizza shop in Chicago where you can now get a pie with a Face Shield side order.

This is the best video I found with some background and showing how the face shields are actually made: