If he won the #DECAGems prize, Gerrard Spaghetti and Pizza‘s Vito would freshen up the joint. He’d redo the facade. Oh, and open up the front with big sliding doors, so people eating pizza could spill right out onto the sidewalk…. Lots of people have nominated Gerrard Pizza as a #DecaGem. That’s got Vito and his family very excited. They’ve put up signs all over their restaurant, located just west of Coxwell at 1528 Danforth. We visited this week to find out more about the place. It turns out to be a true family business. First, Vito’s great-uncle opened it in 1967. Back then, it was on Gerrard near Woodfield. In 1972, Vito’s dad Guissepe took it over. It moved here in 1976. Back then, there was a large Robertson Motors across the street, with about 100 employees — so the place was hopping, particularly on Saturday nights. Crossroads Tavern was thriving too. (Can you imagine?) The local neighborhood was filled with Sicilians — many from the small town called Pachino. (I found it on a map. Here it is.) “It was like half the town transplanted itself here,” Vito says. Robertson Motors shut down, so did Crossroads, and most of the Pachino-transplants have retransplanted elsewhere — making Gerrard Pizza a lot emptier than it was back then. But the Greco family is still running the place — Guiseppe and his wife Nancy run the kitchen, Vito serves customers, and his two sons, sister Elenor and nephew all help out on weekends. 
Kelly Food Mark is another family-run business. Owners Johnny and Ivy are high school sweethearts from Hong Kong. Johhny came to Canada first, and then sponsored Ivy to come. Her brother-in-law owns the building at 1942 Danforth. He couldn’t find any tenants to rent it out ten years ago, so Johnny got it almost by default at a reduced rent and opened a fruit and vegetable store. At the time, his daughter Kelly was just three months old — hence the name. “The first year, I was so scared. There were no people walking on the street. No customers,” he says. “Now, there are more people walking because there are more businesses on the street.” What would he do with the #DECAgems prize? “I need a new sign,” he says. “The guy who did it, he made a mistake.” There is no Mark in the family. It was supposed to say: MART.
What about Face to Face Games, the gaming store and cafe that opened above the Pizza Pizza (2077a Danforth) at the end of last summer? It’s been nominated too. Owner Kelly Ackerman and general manager Anthony Cameron told DECA member Stephanie Nakitsas what they’d do with the prize, should they win. She caught it on video for you, here: https://youtu.be/Im3Ktgovi9E