‘It was a miracle’ Arthur customer saves pizza shop

ARTHUR, Ill. (WCIA) — An Arthur pizza shop was less than a day away from closing, when a customer saved the day.

“It was the last thing we expected to happen,” co-owner Bobby Wallace said.

Bobby and his wife, Kaylen, opened Rest in Pizza four months ago. They faced challenges right off the bat when their oven and freezer both broke.

“When we started the place, we didn’t have any extra money,” Bobby said. “We were also working, spending all our extra money from those jobs on this.”

They posted on Facebook announcing they had to close on Wednesday.

“We were gonna make pies the rest of yesterday and sell those to make enough money for payroll for all our employees to get paid, and then pack up, close down,” Bobby said.

Hours later, they got a call.

“The guy happened to message us and said that he came into some money recently and wanted to pay it forward,” Bobby said.

The man was a customer who ate at the restaurant a couple times a week. He left the couple $5,000 dollars to stay open.

“I’ve had the pleasure of seeing his face to face a couple times now, but not someone I expected this from,” Kaylen said. “He didn’t want us to shut down and he showed that.”

The money was used for a truckload of food and supplies. Flour, pizza boxes and more are stocked once again.

“It’s a dream that we’ve had for a long time now, and for someone to care about it as much as we do really means a lot,” Kaylen said.

Bobby and Kaylen will be open for business on Friday. Their hours have changed , but their signature pies remain the same.

“It felt so weird not being in here seeing my customers and getting to talk with them and feed them,” Kaylen said. “So, I’m excited to get back in the swing of our normal everyday thing.”

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