ROANOKE, Va. – Donnie and Ashley DeGeorgis have been operating Donnie D‘s Bagels and Deli out of their Daleville location for seven years now.
Recently, they had expanded their business by opening a location in Roanoke. However, a fire that broke out on Friday has shut it down indefinitely.
“When you go in and see something that you dreamed about, you set up, you decided to put this piece of equipment here or this item in this spot and it’s just gone, it’s tough,” Donnie said.
Everything that was used to make the bagels was caught up in the fire, meaning that Donnie had to change tactics and make a baked good that he never thought he would make: biscuits.
“We transitioned from bagels to biscuits overnight,” Donnie said. It’s hard for me to say that because I’m a bagel guy. I should never say never.”
However, staff members who used to work in Roanoke are affected by this as their place of employment is currently inoperable.
To combat this, Donnie and Ashley have expanded their hours to give their employees the chance to work some hours and collect a paycheck.
Meanwhile, customers get a chance to get their orders in and enjoy the same quality food they are used to having.
“As I saw a lot more people on social media wanting to rally around them and knowing they were pulling out all the stops to be able to keep all of their employees and to keep their business up and running, I just wanted to find a way to support it,” Emma Beard said.
While going away from bagels is difficult, both Degeorgis’s are more than appreciative of their customers for showing the same love for biscuits as they do for everything else on the menu.
“We’ve been very grateful for everybody that has come in and is still wanting to be with us even though we don’t have the main product that has been selling for seven years,” Ashley said.
Donnie D‘s owners say they will continue to serve food as they always have, no matter what life throws their way.
“He will fight tooth and nail for something that he loves and that he believes in and he has always been like that,” Ashley said. “For him to say, this isn’t going to stop us, we’re going to be open on Saturday, we’re going to figure out how to make biscuits, we’re going to get things going. We’re going to pull things out of the air, that is nothing short of anything I would’ve expected from him.”
While there is no timetable on when the Roanoke location will be open, there is a GoFundMe available for anybody who wishes to help.