Antonio's manager too trusting when he agreed to sell pizza to Bob Dylan concert crew

Sean McElligott said the Amherst pizza shop's staff wanted to serve somebody famous. Watch video

The Republican file photoA man claiming to be with a Bob Dylan backstage pass ordered 178 pizzas at Antonio's in Amherst last Friday following Dylan's show at UMass, but never returned to pick them up.

AMHERST – The manager of Antonio’s pizzeria on North Pleasant Street said the business was “too trusting” when it agreed to fill an order for 178 extra-large gourmet pizzas placed by a man they thought was a member of Bob Dylan’s concert crew.

Sean McElligott, manager of Antonio’s, said the staff at the pizzeria wanted to prepare pizza for Bob Dylan and his concert crew after a man wearing backstage Bob Dylan concert credentials around his neck came in early Saturday morning and asked if they could help feed the crew.

Dylan performed at the Mullins Center on the University of Massachusetts campus Friday night.

McElligott said the man who was in his 40s asked him if they could help feed the stage hands and crew.

McElligott said he would help drive the pizza to the Mullins Center, but the man never came back, he said.

“We stayed there until 5 in the morning making the pizza.”

“The request seemed legitimate,” he said.

McElligott said that halfway through preparing the order, the staff wondered why the man had not returned, but at that point they wanted to complete the order.

“We stayed there until 5 a.m.,” he said.

“We would have liked to show off the pizza and serve somebody famous,” McElligott said.

The bill for the order, including delivery, would have been $3,900.”

Normally, we would take a deposit for such a large order, but we went “on faith,” McElligott said.

“I guess we were too trusting,” he said.

He said the business was able to give half the order away to homeless shelters and other charities in town, and they threw the rest of the pizza away.

The man who ordered the pizza was captured on video in the store, and Amherst police know his identity, McElligott said.

Amherst police said they are investigating the incident, but they have nothing further at this point.

The pizzas were not ordered by Dylan’s road crew or the promoter, said Sylvia Cunha, marketing manager for promoter MassConcerts.

“It’s just terrible. I feel bad for Antonio’s and I feel bad Bob Dylan’s camp was blamed for this,” Cumba said.

Neither the order size or the order procedure is in keeping with after show meals, she said.