ROANOKE, Va. – In late May, the Donnie D’s in Roanoke was the victim of a fire that forced them to shut down the location and operate solely out of their Daleville location.
However, after months of rebuilding, the Donnie D’s Roanoke location was back up and running, serving up bagels and sandwiches to all who came in.
“It’s exciting and also just a little nerve-racking because you’re kind of waiting for something to go this way or that way," owner/operator Donald “Donnie” DeGeorgis said.
Longtime customers were so excited that some began to line up hours before the scheduled 6:00 AM opening time just to be the first to get a fresh bagel.
DeGeorgis credits his customers and the greater Roanoke community for helping the location get back on their feet.
Customers, meanwhile, were more than happy to support the local restaurant in any way possible, even if it meant getting something that wasn’t bagels.
“I know that the community would come out and support them anyway that they can because that’s a hard thing to have to rebuild your business,” Misty Hensley said. “So you just want to figure out ways to support them any way that you can. So we bought biscuits when they were making biscuits.”
Those biscuits aren’t being taken off the menu just yet, either.
However, Donnie D’s bread and butter menu item - bagels - will be taking center stage once again.
“I know we sold three or four of them [bagels] already this morning, but mainly it’s the bagels that are going out this morning,” DeGeorgis said. “Everybody’s kind of wanting to get back on track with having a fresh bagel.”
The months of hard work and rebuilding have paid off for both the business and the customers.
“It’s just been rewarding to be back open. But it’s been very humbling to go through that whole process of seeing everything that you built torn apart and then built back again,” DeGeorgis said.