Five Night's at Freddy's might be a huge success, but for a New Jersey based restaurant named Freddie's the game is almost ruining business with hundreds of prank calls per day.
For those who have somehow managed to miss out on Five Night's at Freddy's it's a horror game where you play as a night guard in a pizza place where the animatronics come to life at night trying to kill the guard, it's a simple yet apparently popular concept considering there are five games and a movie adaptation in the making.
Freddie's Restaurant and Pizzeria is one of the pizza places that isn't enjoying the success of the Five Nights at Freddy's games. A flood of calls from kids from all over the US have been pranking Freddie's and asking if they are the restaurant from the games, Freddy Fazbear's Pizza.
If one or two kids we're calling a day then it wouldn't be that big of a problem, but this has started to impact business for the restaurant since customers can't get through since all four lines are filled with kids asking about Freddy Fazbear's Pizza.
"You may be thinking that it's like five or ten phone calls a day, no, we're talking hundreds. […] They manage to block the customers."
The kids also don't stop after one phone call, Oscar Hernandez from the real Freddie's Restaurant and Pizzeria said that some numbers keeping on calling 20 or 30 times, one of the employees said that they can get up to 200 calls an hour. They are trapped in a maelstrom of never ending calls of video game fans which seem to be loosely organized.
Freddie's has been around since 1944 and just changing phone numbers is not an option since the phone number is on leaflets, magnets, take-home menus, and most importantly, customers phone contact books. Marilou Halvorsen, president of the New Jersey Restaurant & Hospitality Association, had this to say about the situation.
"That number has been in existence for so long, and then all of the sudden you change the number and people think you're out of business. It's not that easy. Hopefully, it will die down."
Though the Freddie's up in New Jersey isn't the only Freddie's being hunted by videogame fans, Fast Freddie's Pizza & Pasta in Roseville, California is also getting their fair share of kids looking for the legendary Freddy Fazbear's Pizza.
It seems like the creator of the game, Scott Cawthon is familiar with fans hunting for the pizza place and had this to say about the calls
"Please do not call any phone numbers that you think may be associated with the game; there are NO phone numbers associated with the game or marketing; all locations are fictional."
Hopefully for all the restaurants' with the name Freddie's or Freddy's in their name this prank calling trend will die soon, no prank call should be in the way of people who want to order pizza!
Source: Asbury Park Press
