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Nobody’s chickening out here.
A Long Island chicken shop owned by a former “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” contestant staved off closure thanks to a viral social media SOS – and a surprising boost from a rival eatery.
“I laid it all out in some local Facebook groups,” Josh Gatewood, owner of Yankee Doodle Dandy’s in Islip and Babylon, told The Post.
“I wrote, ‘I can either close my stores, or I can come to the community for support.”
“It went absolutely viral, thousands of people started talking about it…now we’re making more in a single day than we have in the past in weeks,” said the 40-year-old Maspeth resident, who won $25,000 on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” in 2012 then used the dough to open a New York City food truck version of the store in 2013.
Michael Landesberg, the owner of popular East Islip eatery Jackson Hall, who saw the last-ditch plea online and jumped into help the rival restaurant.
“I’ve always believed it’s not a competition; it’s camaraderie,” Landesberg, 50, said.
“It’s not nice to see people fail.”
He acted quickly and posted a contest online, awarding $1,000 in Jackson Hall gift cards to anyone who showed proof they had eaten at Yankee Doodle, named for Gatewood’s ancestors who fought in the American Revolution.
“Soon after I did that, tons of other businesses reached out and donated their own,” Landesberg added.
“Islip is one of the strongest communities I’ve seen.”
By Wednesday afternoon, he had raised over $3,000 in gift cards for local meat markets, beauty products, auto repairs, a bridal shop and even mosquito removal service.
They are ready to be randomly distributed to Yankee Doodle patrons this Friday.
“He’s been an angel on my shoulder,” added Gatewood, who said he is also at risk of being evicted from his Queens home.
“I would be done already without him.”
Landesberg, who had never tried the succulent chicken before getting involved, touts himself as always generous.
However, something four years ago inspired him to go far above and beyond.
“I was diagnosed with male breast cancer and was given a year to live,” he said.
“I vowed that if I recovered because of all the support strangers had shown me, I would use my life to return the favor,” the now-cancer-free chef added.
Since the SOS, troves of first-time customers are popping into Yankee Doodle and telling staff, “Michael sent me.”
“He told me, ‘You gotta come in; the food is awesome,” newcomer Gayle McGuickan of Islip Terrace said while raving about her “Winner Winner” meal of four chicken tenders for lunch.
The poultry boss is optimistic that “it’s looking like we’re not going to get knocked down again.”
‘In the fight’
Gatewood, a lover of “Rocky,” after whom he named his young son, knows plenty about being on the ropes.
He was a sharp business executive living in a luxurious Atlanta penthouse until he followed his then-girlfriend to New York in 2012, hoping to land a job with Goldman Sachs.
Instead, the master’s degree holder briefly worked for a cutthroat Wall Street firm he likened to the Vin Diesel movie “Boiler Room” before selling cowboy hats in a tourist trap on Walker Street after a breakup.
Flat broke, Gatewood wound up on an air mattress in his little sister’s Knoxville apartment and frying chicken at a Zaxby’s off campus from the University of Tennessee.
It became the silver lining that taught the self-proclaimed “Slumdog Millionaire of Queens” how to run his spot.
“That first weekend I was down there, I got the call I had made it on ‘Who Want to Be a Millionaire’ after five tries. Every time it looked like I was done in life, a miracle had happened,” Gatewood said.
“It’s not over yet, but we’re in the fight, thanks to everybody. I didn’t know much about Long Island at first, but the people here are really something.”
