YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A Boardman man uses skills he honed as a concert promoter to provide positive publicity for Mahoning Valley restaurants.
Joe Chiovitti started the Mahoning Valley Food Gurus Facebook group in April 2020.
“We’re a local group that caters to the local food and drink industry, and we advocate for anyone locally based here in the Mahoning Valley,” he said.
Chiovitti was laid off from work during the pandemic and heard about locally owned eateries shutting down because of Covid restrictions and reduced sales.
“And it was really heart-wrenching for me, and I thought, ‘Wow, let me take these 28 years of promotional skills – and who doesn’t enjoy food – and let me incorporate that,’ and here we are,” he said.
The page boasts more than 15,000 followers, from restaurant and bar owners to regular people searching for a new place to eat.
Sonya Diaz, owner of House of Bennys in Poland, appreciates what Chiovitti’s page does for local spots.
“It helps all of the restaurants get recognition,” she said. “It keeps it all positive for all of the businesses.”
House of Bennys is a breakfast and lunch spot known for its selection of eggs benedict varieties, including vegan versions. Diaz follows Chiovitti’s page too.
“I enjoy getting to know other places to eat as well, besides the ones that I already know,” she said.
“You learn new things that are in the area.”
Chiovitti visits a locally owned Valley restaurant – no chains. He orders from the menu and writes about his experience in the Facebook group, explaining what he ordered, how it tasted and complementing the restaurant staff. He sometimes includes photographs of the restaurant’s owners and employees – and of his food.
Occasionally, someone will recognize him when he’s shopping and stop him.
“What really surprises me is when people recognize me from my Facebook group,” Chiovitti said. “I feel like a local celebrity. One guy wanted to take a selfie with me at Sam’s Club. It was so gratifying.”
Other group members write about their positive experiences at Valley restaurants, and some restaurants promote their weekly specials via the forum.
Chiovitti is a big fan of seafood but enjoys all types of restaurants for the Facebook group. The frequency of his visits and his posts varies depending on his mood and schedule.
Last week, he visited Eastern Spice Tandoori Grill, an Indian restaurant at Market Street and Midlothian Boulevard.
Three moderators help Chiovitti monitor the page and decide whether a new user will be permitted into the group.
“They help me police the group to make sure everyone’s following the guidelines,” he said. “We pride ourselves in being a safe haven.”
One of those guidelines is that all comments must be positive.
“We’re very unlike other groups where you can slam businesses if you’re unhappy with their services, but we don’t allow negativity,” Chiovitti said. “I tell everyone there’s other platforms for that.”
Negative comments may harm businesses. It’s easy for someone who has a bad experience at a restaurant to anonymously slam the business on social media, “and it spreads like wildfire, and they’re causing a lot of harm,” he said.
If a customer would bring their concerns to the owner, most of those owners would try to make it right, Chiovitti added.
He owned Encore Music Productions for 28 years. That business closed during the 2008 recession, and Chiovitti changed careers, becoming a chemical dependency counselor assistant. He retired a few years ago.
His years as a concert promoter exposed him to various foods and cooking styles, and that knowledge informs his Facebook page.
“I like to consider myself a worldly person,” Chiovitti said. “I think I’ve traveled a lot more when I was a concert promoter. I did my promotions in 22 different states from 1986 to 2013, and I had to always eat out. So I like to think I’m a little savvier as a result of that.”
Pictured at top: Joe Chiovitti at Eastern Spice Tandoori Grill in Youngstown.