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.