Montclair shop can't sell much ice cream, so it's bringing free milk to seniors, and more

MONTCLAIR — Between the shuttered shops and empty streets, there's a bright spot on Bloomfield Avenue: the colorful, 6-foot-tall ice cream cone outside a storefront with a purple marquee that reads "Gelati by Mike." Inside the store, another upbeat presence is Mike himself.

When stay-at-home directives began and business slowed to a trickle, Mike Guerriero made a contrarian decision: Rather than cut orders from suppliers and risk putting them, and his drivers, out of work, he would keep buying milk, butter, eggs, cream, orange juice and toilet paper and deliver them to seniors and the homebound for free.

"We can barely afford to pay the bills and probably are not going to pay the rent," he said. "But if we are going to lose everything we might as well do it while helping the community and our workers."

The first week, only about a dozen people took advantage of his offer. So he approached Anne Mernin, the director of Toni's Kitchen and discovered that the soup kitchen was overwhelmed with growing needs.. And Guerriero learned there were many homebound seniors who needed food as well.

Starting Monday, more than 200 local families at Toni's Kitchen and the Caldwell Food Pantry will start receiving dairy products courtesy of Gelati by Mike's.

And, after Guerriero's driver unloads the donated food from his truck at Toni's Kitchen, Mernin's staff will fill it with meals to be delivered to seniors, using a database he created with Mernin and Katya Wowk, who works at Town Hall.

Guerriero and his wife, Breanna, are also going the extra mile to provide for their employees. (They also own ice cream shops in Caldwell and Randolph.)

They are paying those who have chosen to stay on during the crisis an extra $2 an hour, and have promised them an extra week of paid vacation.

Still, they began to notice that some didn't seem to have enough to eat, and started making meals at home and leaving them in the refrigerators at their shops for staff to eat during their shifts or bring home.

The changes to the couple's lives have been dizzying, said Guerriero, 29. "A few weeks ago, our biggest problem was what color our new quart cups would be. It's crazy that now we're focused on, do customers have enough milk and toilet paper, and is there enough food in the fridge for the employees to have lunch?"

Guerriero estimates that half of his Bloomfield Avenue neighboring businesses won't make it through the crisis. "We're really saddened because we know that in addition to the loss of lives there's going to be a big loss of business," he said. "But we can lose less if we work together."

He remains upbeat. "I'm so happy we're still open and I can at least help in some way," he said.

He and his wife are not fearful of contracting the virus. "We're young, and even if we got infected, we don't feel like we would die, so we'll be the canary in the coal mine.

"We are going to keep chugging through and keep hoping for the best."

Julia Martin covers Montclair for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: jmartin@gannettnj.com Twitter: @TheWriteJulia