Pizza shop adds face shields to menu during coronavirus pandemic

CHICAGO — The ovens may not be as full of pizza as they normally are at one Chicago pizza shop.

But workers at Dimo’s Pizza are baking up something to help keep people healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic -- face shields.

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Dimitri Syrkin-Nikolau is working with another Chicago company, Avenue Metal, to help make face shields for hospitals and other health care facilities.

Syrkin-Nikolau uses the pizza ovens to soften sheets of acrylic and fit them into a mold to become face shields, Fox News reported.

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The pizza man at first came up with the prototype to show his staff could do what was needed, according to Fox News.

The shield is comprised of the formed acrylic attached to a foam strip and straps, the BBC reported.

Syrkin-Nikolau has already sold the shields to a home for elderly homeless people and a pediatrics practice.

He has to charge for the shield to keep employees paid and to pay for the supplies needed to make them. The cost is $3 each, the BBC reported.

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If needed he said he can make about 3,000 shields a week.

Syrkin-Nikolau is also still making pizzas at his shop while the dining room is closed. He’s offering take-out and curbside pickup, Fox News reported.