American Express Small Business Saturday Featuring Italian On The Run!

Thanks to American Express for sponsoring my writing today about small businesses.  American Express is presenting Small Business Saturday, a way to honor the local merchants who are the backbone of the economy, this Saturday, November 27.  They’re offering statement credits to people who shop at small businesses, advertising for small-business owners, and donations to Girls Inc. for “Likes” of the Small Business Saturday page on Facebook.  Join the celebration by clicking the “Like” button and then visiting the Facebook page to learn more about the program and read the terms and conditions that apply. 

When I was asked to highlight American Express’ Small Business Saturday, I was all YES.  I much prefer to shop and dine at local businesses than big box stores and chain restaurants.  

The small business I want to share with you today is from my husband’s home town – Massena, New York.  It’s where we met, fell in love, got married and had our first son.  It’s a special place to us for sure and full of so many memories!  My very good friend (and Bellaziza’sFavorites.com buddy!) Crista and her husband made the daring move one year ago to purchase a failing restaurant in Massena.  It was a great deal but a scary proposition at the same time as they knew they faced an uphill climb in order to resurrect it.  They believed in their vision and knew that with lots of hard work, smart marketing through social media and of course their amazing homestyle Italian cuisine, it could come back better than ever.  It was a big undertaking like all small business ventures are, but only a year later with tremendous community support, Italian On The Run is a booming local success story and better than ever! 

Italian On The Run offers superb homemade Italian cuisine to their loyal customers.  Although many people do dine in, they are primarily a take out and delivery place that focuses on quality… but with convenience.  Forget about just your standard pizza and wings (although they are amazing in their own rite!) “IOTR” has an impressive menu that would rival many fancier places.  They have a great variety of gourmet pizzas like the new Mediterranean Chicken Pizza, and their most popular, Buffalo Chicken Pizza made with their homemade Buffalo wing sauces!  Beyond mouthwatering calzones, strombolis, subs, salads, and gourmet pasta dinners, they have the most exquisite homemade desserts around, fresh and made from scratch!   Our pick?  The Italian Cream Cake and the Cannolis.  OMG.

Thanks to Crista’s entrepreneurial genius and social media suave, Italian On The Run has brought a major Facebook explosion to Massena!  As her and other small businesses work hard to connect within their community, customers are “liking” their way through the small town of Massena at a record pace!  Liking IOTR’s Facebook Fan Page is all the rage right now too. 🙂 Crista offers Facebook specials and hosts giveaways regularly which keeps things fresh and their fans always coming back for more!  Go ahead and LIKE them too! Once they get to 2,000 fans, amazing things are gonna happen and they’re less than 50 away!!  That’s pretty amazing if you ask me!  While you’re at it, go ahead and follow IOTR on Twitter too!

At Italian On The Run it’s not all about them, and they know it.  They are very community focused and create as many collaborations as they can with other local small businesses.  IOTR is diving into Small Business Saturday head first by posting about many of their fellow small businesses on their Facebook page to try to lead their almost 2,000 local fans to other local small businesses on Facebook!  Is there anything better than a small business supporting other small businesses?!  I think not.

Make it a point to visit as many small businesses as you can on Saturday, November 27th.  American Express is ready and willing to reward you for doing so too, so check out the links below and LIKE Small Business Saturday on Facebook!

Small Business Saturday

I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

*Disclosure: While I was compensated to write this post, all opinions are 100% honest and mine! All mine!*

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

code