A Tasty Prize
“Well I received a call a couple of weeks ago, from Joe Aurelio, the owner, and I thought it was a prank call at first,” said Chip Wagner, Aurelio’s contest winner.
But it was no joke. In honor of Aurelio’s Pizza celebrating their 60th year in business, the pizza chain held a contest to give away 60 months of free pizza – and Wagner was randomly selected to be the big cheese.
At Aurelio’s in Naperville, the son of Aurelio’s founder and its current CEO, Joe Aurelio, presented Wagner with the winnings, in the form of four 25 dollar coupons per month for the next 5 years.
60 Years of Aurelio’s
“We started in 1959 in Homewood as you know, by my dad. We’re giving back to our customers the way we have for the last 60 years. I mean that’s the way my dad started the business, one customer at a time. It’s our 60th anniversary so we’re thinking ‘what would be a great way to give back to our customers, so we thought okay, tie in to 60 so we came up with 60 months and what else would we give them but free pizzas,” said Joe Aurelio, CEO, Aurelio’s pizza
Continuing to Give Back
100 dollars worth of pizza a month for 60 months is certainly enough to share. Wagner said he can’t wait to enjoy the pizzas with his family and friends, but does hope to give back in a more meaningful way.
“That’s a lot of pizzas. So I was trying to figure out how I might be able to pay it forward, maybe donate some of my pizzas to local charities, homeless or some of the food pantries or something like that. I’m thinking about ways I might be able to pay it forward a little bit, as well as enjoy it myself.” Said Wagner
As for Wagner’s favorite topping, that would be sausage and mushroom.
Naperville News 17’s Ryan Skryd reports.
