‘CASH MOB’ FLOCKS TO SPARKY’S CONEY ISLAND SYSTEM IN EFFORT TO SAVE STRUGGLING DINER

   

 Journal Staff Writer 

EAST PROVIDENCE — Until George “Sparky” Watts went public with his money worries, he was just another struggling small businessman.

But if he has many more lunchtimes like the one he had Saturday, he might have to rename his diner the Golden Weenie.

A “cash mob” flooded into Sparky’s Coney Island System diner from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., buying paper plates full of hot wieners and other food items in a concerted effort to save his bacon. Most of the wiener sales appeared to be “all the way,” meaning topped with mustard, meat sauce, chopped onions and celery salt.

Standing behind the counter of the diner, a fixture on Taunton Avenue near City Hall since the 1940s, he fought to maintain his emotional composure.

Sparky, 58, a Riverside native who proclaims himself “a Townie, red and white all the way through,” marveled as his 55 seats filled up and then some.

“I’m making a lot of new friends,” he declared.

A cash mob is a group of people who buy en masse from a merchant at a particular time, reminiscent of another phenomenon of the social media age, the “flash mob.” A flash mob, recruited through social media such as instant-messaging, generally gathers to dance in public, or for another kind of performance.

A campaign to save Sparky began when he confided to a loyal customer, Janis Mooradian, that he probably would have to close because business had been so poor.

It would be a sad end for the Coney Island System diner, better known for its former proprietor, the late civic leader James T. Kanelos, who employed Sparky as a young man.

Mooradian, who lives “around the corner” and has marketing experience, would have none of it. She already was a big fan of the Little Rhody wieners from Rhode Island Provisions that Sparky serves up, periodically shipping a boxful in dry ice to her brother in Las Vegas.

“I pulled a Gordon Ramsay on him,” she said Saturday, in reference to the Scottish restaurant turnaround expert known for his tough-love approach on the TV reality show “Hell’s Kitchen.”

She had the diner repainted and began plotting a more extensive re-do, had him begin printing T-shirts with a wiener logo and pressed him to broaden and upgrade his menu selections. Sparky installed a new point-of-sale terminal so he could accept charge cards and expanded his days of operation to Sunday.

“We have to keep Sparky’s,” Mooradian said. “He’s a neighborhood staple.”

After Sparky complained about the plight of small business on his Facebook page and when he was interviewed on TV, he was noticed by Edward Doyle, information technology director for a manufacturing company. Sparky said that despite his 18-year proprietorship of the diner, he had been unable to get a loan to provide working capital.

Doyle, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the state representative seat in Johnston now held by Democrat Deborah A. Fellela, created a bipartisan team with Rep. Doreen M. Costa, R-North Kingstown.

They made the diner a cause célèbre on Facebook and cooked up Saturday’s promotional event. The effort helps someone in need and, secondarily, draws attention from the State House, Doyle said.

“He’s a symbol,” Doyle said. “We’ve got to fight to keep small businesses in Rhode Island.