Giving Back During a Pandemic, One Slice at a Time

By: Danielle Wunder

Kyle Riggs owner of Paradise by The Slice, giving back one pizza at a time. The photo was taken by Danielle Wunder.

Paradise by The Slice has been around for a couple of years now. Although a few months before COVID-19 hit they were taken over by new ownership. Kyle Riggs, a young twenty-four-year-old entrepreneur took over Paradise by The Slice around one month before the major shut down caused by COVID.

There was so much talk about COVID that it seemed as if it would never really hit this hard in Pennsylvania. Therefore new owner Kyle Riggs had absolutely zero preparation for the major shut down that hit mid-march of 2020.

Inside Paradise by The Slice’s pizza shop. All slips shown were from delivery and take out orders during the COVID-19 shutdown. Orders were long and the customers were hungry. . The photo was taken by Danielle Wunder

During the first two weeks, the newly owned Paradise by The Slice took around a 40% hit on business. As week three came around thankfully business came around again, at this rate Kyle describes the business as “feeling like every night was the Super Bowl.” At this point in time, the shutdown was still in effect, and Paradise by The Slice was 100% delivery and take out.

“We missed our customers,” said Frank Yoder of Wernersville, Pennsylvania. “We missed our employees. We reached to people, they reached out to us.”

Paradise by The Slice started doing take out cases of beer as well as takeout make your own pizzas. The photo was taken by Danielle Wunder.

Customers then began to order take out and sit in the parking lot or lawn and eat on Paradise property. This then sparked the great idea for what they called “parking lot parties.”

“We thought it would bring the community together following the CDC guidelines,” said Kyle Riggs, owner of Paradise by The Slice.

Rooftop view of Paradise by The Slice’s parking lot bringing the community together. The photo was taken by Danielle Wunder.

Kyle Riggs as a young entrepreneur, opened a business just to turn around to be impacted so greatly by the pandemic. He decided to use his resources to keep his doors open by giving back to the front-line workers. Kyle mentioned that “the parking lot parties were booming and so we decided to collect donations to help support the front-line workers.”

Samantha Brochu, 10 and Joey Miller, 7 of Robesonia, Pennsylvania collecting donations for frontline workers. The photo was taken by Danielle Wunder.

“It was a tough time for a lot of people, so we were trying to do everything we could to bring the community together and cheer people up and just inspire others to help each other and we are continuing to do so every Thursday,” Riggs explained.

With the weather becoming colder, outdoor activities are becoming more limited. Paradise by The Slice has a schedule full of upcoming charity events with the hopes of continuing to give back to the community. Riggs has high hopes of the pandemic restrictions being lifted soon considering these events may have to be held indoors.

“Hopefully, we will go back to normal soon but right now we are all thankful to be able to do something like this within the community,” said Denise Brochu of Robesonia, Pennsylvania.

VIDEO LINK: https://vimeo.com/482933729

TRANSCRIPT LINK: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTXILDc5O1YdP6cH7elAQhVwaqNO9a0HyF3qUsKB1MxVGJXc0OozENCs5ZYH275OhtZUs194SYk35yX/pub