Introduction to the Incident
WEST TOWN — Joe Fontana typically uses beef tallow to cook the french fries at his nine Fry the Coop restaurants. But last week, Fontana was generously spreading the slippery stuff on the front door handle of his West Town location at 1529 W. Chicago Ave.
The Aftermath and Response
Inside, Fontana engaged in more “Home Alone”-inspired antics, documenting them in an Instagram video posted Friday. He covered part of the entrance in clear plastic wrap and tied a six-pack of canned beer to a beam overhead. He dusted a $100 bill with an orange-colored spice mixture, placing it inside the cash register. And he taped $9 — a $5 bill and four $1 bills, to be exact — next to the front door with a sign that read, “Just take it!”
While not the typical response after your business gets broken into — for the third time, as was the case here — using humor has become Fontana’s default method for dealing with challenges.
Utilizing Social Media for Support
The video was the third in a series of posts Fontana and his social media manager Erin Byrne put on Instagram in the days following the Tuesday morning break-in. They captioned the first video, “When it’s 4am and you run out of Coop Sauce?!”
A pun-filled slideshow posted the next day opened with the caption, “Breaking news!! Here’s what’s new at Fry the Coop,” and a photo of the large hole in the smashed-in front door. “Our new cheese sauce is pane-fully delicious” read another caption.
“After all this, our glass is still half full (at least they didn’t take our Malort ),” the final caption read.
Community Support and Resilience
The burglars took about “nine dollars in change” from the register, said Fontana.
The three social media posts have racked up more than 5,500 likes and plenty of positive responses. But Fontana wasn’t laughing when he first watched the two-minute livestream of the break-in while at his home in suburban Downers Grove — although he did find some humor in the fact that the burglars had to throw a brick eight times to finally break the double-pane glass.
He didn’t laugh either when he received the early-morning phone call from Chicago police alerting him to the break-in at his West Town shop.
Once he arrived and saw that police had waited an hour for him, “I thought that was really nice, because you have this wide-open restaurant where anybody could just walk in,” Fontana said.
A Hero in the Community
Fontana said he felt even more grateful when a man across the street who was boarding up the window of another shop that had been broken into agreed to help board up Fry the Coop’s windows. Fry the Coop was one of three businesses in the area burglarized about 3:06 a.m. Tuesday, ABC7 reported.
“That’s why I’m here,” the man told Fontana, and quoted him a reasonable price. He also called his “glass guy” to stop by Fry the Coop, Fontana said.
The man — an employee with Tri County Board Up & Glass Repair — told Fontana he listens to a police scanner as he drives around waiting for inevitable break-ins. The night before, 18 hair salons in suburban Des Plaines and Niles and on the Northwest Side had been burglarized, the man told Fontana.
“I would call him a hero,” said Fontana, who had been freaking out about how he was going to get it all done by himself. “As a small business owner, I would have no idea who to call.”
Conclusion
After Fontana finished sweeping up the broken glass, he hooked up a new cash drawer and printer. By 6 a.m. Tuesday, Fry the Coop was boarded up, with new double-pane glass set to arrive in a day or two. By 10 a.m., the restaurant was open for business as usual.
“The community has been coming together to go out of their way to help us,” Fontana said.
Fontana developed his approach to dealing with life’s setbacks years ago when he got into the restaurant business. Rather than get frustrated over difficulties, he decided to embrace them, he said.
“I think no matter where you are in life, if you’re rich or poor, healthy or unhealthy, there are always problems,” Fontana said. “Life is hard for everyone. The more you can stay positive about those things the better.”
FAQs
Q: How did Joe Fontana respond to the break-in at his restaurant?
A: Joe Fontana used humor to respond to the break-in, documenting his antics on Instagram and using puns to make light of the situation.
Q: What was taken from the restaurant during the break-in?
A: The burglars took about $9 in change from the register.
Q: How did the community respond to the break-in?
A: The community came together to support Fry the Coop, with a man from a nearby business offering to help board up the windows and a positive response on social media.
Q: What is Fontana’s approach to dealing with challenges?
A: Fontana believes in staying positive and embracing difficulties, rather than getting frustrated.
