Barstool Sports Saves Long Island's Borrelli's Restaurant

Alex Costello
Updated ·2 min read

EAST MEADOW, NY — Borrelli's has been a staple of Italian dining on Long Island for 65 years. But the coronavirus pandemic hit the East Meadow restaurant hard, and owner Frank Borrelli Jr. was likely going to have to close. But then a holiday miracle came from an unlikely source — sports fans.

Dave Portnoy, founder of Barstool Sports, is friends with Borrelli's son, Frankie. In addition to sports blogging, Portnoy is well-known for his pizza reviews in the New York and New Jersey areas. Frankie Borrelli is his cameraman for those reviews. Hearing about the trouble that Borrelli's, and many other small businesses, were having, Portnoy created the Barstool Fund.

The goal of the Barstool Fund, of which Borrelli's was the first recipient, is to save small businesses and restaurants from closing during the pandemic. Portnoy and Barstool Sports contributed $500,000 to get the fund started earlier this month. Since then, it has raised more than $2.6 million.

Throughout the pandemic, Borrelli's has continued to pay its employees, which Portnoy said inspired him. The major requirement for businesses to get funding from the Barstool Fund is that they must still be paying their employees. The fund will pay the costs of the businesses as long as they need to stay open.

"We were breaking even during the summer," Frank Borrelli Jr. said in an emotional video on Facebook. "I got my staff. They were all being paid. And I said we'll make it through Christmas. January, February, March, I was planning on closing ... This is going to help so much. You don't know. Thank you from the bottom of my heart."


Since its launch in mid-December, the Barstool Fund has helped other restaurants as well: Trattoria L'incontro in Queens; The Village Trestle in Goffstown, New Hampshire; Red Rock Tavern in Hartford, Connecticut; and Abbey Bar in De Pere, Wisconsin. Portnoy said he plans to help even more restaurants.

One way the fund raises money is selling merchandise of the restaurant. All proceeds from the sales go directly to the restaurants. You can get yourself a Borrelli's T-shirt or hoodie, and support the restaurant in the process, by clicking here. You can also donate to the Barstool Fund here.

This article originally appeared on the East Meadow Patch