Residents and business owners in parts of Rome are picking up the pieces after a tornado ripped through the community, causing extensive damage to buildings, and downing trees and power lines. Jason Jaegers is co-owner with his wife of Big Jay’s Pizza on North James Street. He says the building is a total loss, but is relieved that none of his employees got hurt.
“There was 16 people in the building when it happened," Jaegers said. "The roof blew off on the side of the building blew right into the back of our building right into our kitchen. So that's normally a place where the employees are in there at bare minimum 200 times a day, and luckily no one was in there at that time.”
Jaegers says the outcome could have been much worse. He opened the Rome store just last year, and says he poured his life into the location and community. For example, they decided to continue with the 50th annual World Series of Bocce Tournament as a way to bring the community together in the aftermath of the storm. Jaegers says he’s grateful he has good insurance and can rebuild.
“I have a very good relationship with my landlord, who's John Pasqualetti," Jaegers said. "He's been bar none the best guy I've ever met in my life. We've still got to sit down and make a decision, but I think at the end of the day we will make Big Jays bigger and better at the same location.”
Jaegers has another location in Marcy, and plans to open a third in Clay. He says it’s what he was meant to do.
"My dream was to always own my own restaurant. And the only thing I was ever good at was making pizzas."
Click the audio player above to hear an excerpt from a Facebook video posted by Jaeger on Wednesday.
