FALL RIVER — One Fall River cafe is using its social media to shine a spotlight on other city eateries.
Christopher’s recently launched a small business challenge with a callout to all their customers and Facebook followers that proved a win-win for all.
The challenge: stop by a small, local restaurant, cafe or bakery, take a picture of your visit and what you ordered there and tag Christopher’s in a Facebook post about it. Winners chosen by Christopher’s got a $100 gift card to their eatery of choice.
Christopher Silvia, who co-owns the popular 1816 S. Main St. spot, noted that the goal was to give fellow mom-and-pop shops a leg up amid an “epidemic” of restaurant closures locally and nationwide.
“Everyday I was seeing restaurants that were closing — Rustico (in Mattapoisett), Mimi’s (Kitchen) in New Bedford … and everyone is citing poor economy.. I felt like if I have such a platform I should use it responsibly and maybe help out,” he said.
In his initial Facebook callout Friday, Oct. 25, Silvia expressed the importance, now more than ever, to “focus on our small restaurants and coffee houses” for the sake of the city.
“The food world is tough. You pour your life savings and sometimes that of your families to open a place and you give your life to it only to have it close because of the economy. It’s a cruel thing to see. So in an effort to make sure our Fall River small food establishments remain thriving I’m asking you to keep them all on your radar,” the post read.
Small business challenge spreads to New Bedford area
Christopher’s plea to Facebook followers — now 21,000 in total — went up Friday, Oct. 25, and “within minutes” Silvia said local businesses — including Mr. Chen in Fall River, Piri Piri Kitchen on Somerset, and realtors — were doubling down on their initial winning prize and the pot grew from $300 to $1,000 to put toward restaurant gift cards because “everyone got involved.”
With their help, number of winners — both patrons and eateries — more than tripled from 3 to 10.
“This one really went well… Everyone was on board with it,” said Silvia, who owns Christopher’s South End location, as well as its second North End location inside the New Boston Medical Center, with partner Nate Silvia.
And what started as a small community movement to celebrate local independent and family-owned restaurants quickly spread throughout the SouthCoast.
The weekend-long challenge caught the attention of several other eateries in the region — from Pa Raffa’s in New Bedford to Blue Point Restaurant in Acushnet to Hamilton Diner in Seekonk — who were inspired by Christopher’s to launch similar gift card giveaways.
“To see New Bedford and Seekonk get on board like that and really embrace it was a little bizarre, in a good way. I was excited,” Silvia said. “I just want to help my neighbors but if it goes beyond that, ya let’s do the whole SouthCoast. No one wants to see another restaurant close.”
A taste of some winning Fall River eateries
Christopher’s challenge ran over three days, ending Sunday, Oct. 27. The top winning trio, representing a tasty sampling of Fall River spots, was announced last Tuesday, Oct. 29, each receiving a $100 gift card to their challenge eatery of choice.
Among the entries that struck Silvia was one from Terri Couture, who was loaded with “happy vibes” after grabbing some eats at a well-known city sub shop.
“There was one cancer patient who couldn’t eat bread during her treatment and the minute she was done with it she went to Marcucci’s and did a video dancing around with a Marcucci’s sub,” Silvia said.
Winner Heather Miranda took Christopher’s small business challenge to Twisted Griddle, posting a tempting table of sweet and savory eats from the Robeson Street breakfast joint, and Elizabeth Duarte treated her mother to breakfast at a “new-to-me cafe” and “hidden gem here in the heart of Fall River.”
“I treated my 80 years young mother to breakfast at Europa Pastries & Coffee Shop and it was absolutely delicious. My mother who has dedicated her entire life to care and cater for her family of 7 rarely allows us to treat her. She enjoyed a Portuguese sweet and coffee that she couldn’t stop raving about,” said Duarte, who opted for an egg and cheese sandwich on a bolo and “beautifully crafted” cappuccino, in her Facebook review of their visit.
Additional winners, out of a total of 350 participants, are also expected to be announced via Facebook, Silvia said.
Cafe Takeover coming soon
And Silvia is not done yet. Stay tuned because the wheels are already turning on another small business challenge that Silvia is hoping to make a weekly Christopher’s feature.
“We want to do something called a Cafe Takeover, were every Sunday we blitz a particular cafe or bakery,” said Silvia, who has already spoken with Society Coffee Bar in Somerset. “We want to get as many people as we possibly can to go to that cafe.”
Action Fall River underway
Silvia is no stranger to harnessing the power of social media for the good of the community.
Facebook has been a catalyst for enlisting volunteers and filling the public in on various community service projects they’ve organized — from toy drives to free farm stands to cleanups and free children’s events — something the Fall River cafe owner is passionate about.
So much so that he recently founded the nonprofit called Action Fall River.
Since opening Christopher’s 19 months ago, Silvia noted they were using profits from the restaurant to fund their projects, and doing things on their own, before deciding to start a nonpofit that’s 100% in and 100% out.
It enables them, with the help of their board, to organize larger events, and all the funds get funneled back right into the community.
They just launched a Christmas toy drive that has already taken off. Future plans for the nonpofit include taking on the Quequechan River Rail Trail, where they recently hosted a second cleanup.
“Whenever there’s a problem, we’re gonna try to tackle it,” Silvia said.