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Social Media Helps new Pizza Place with Opening:
February 1, 2010 by NBC Action News

LEE'S SUMMIT, Mo. - Imagine trying to open a business in this tough economy. One Lee’s Summit man is doing just that and he's doing it without an advertising budget.

Patrick Cuezze gave up a law career to run his very own pizza place - Next Door Pizza & Pub.

He's always loved Chicago-style pizza, but he had no idea how to get the word out or where his customers were going to come from.

Patrick didn't have the money for traditional advertising, so like a lot of businesses he started a Facebook page. To stand out from the crowd he made it interactive.  Potential customers could go to the site and shape the restaurant's interior design and menu.

"Before we opened we had close to 500 fans on Facebook,” says Cuezze.

When he finally did open Saturday he was swamped with customers. He estimates close to 200 people walked in before 3 p.m. It was all with spending zero dollars on media advertising. Facebook and Twitter handled all the publicity.