Meet Love Is Blind’s John Jay Oliver, Rob’s friend who owns two successful businesses

Rob Feeley’s friend John Jay Oliver may have only appeared briefly on Love Is Blind season 11, but away from the show he’s a successful business owner in Rhode Island.

Jay, who has lived in East Providence his whole life, owns The Local, a sports bar that opened in 2021. It was recently named Best Neighborhood Bar in the East Bay in this year’s Best of Rhode Island awards.

The bar is built entirely around sports, with 16 TVs, every major game package and a state-of-the-art sound system. “We can show you pretty much every game that you could ever want to see,” Jay told local press.

Despite working with a kitchen he estimates is around a tenth of the size of a typical restaurant’s, the bar makes its food fresh rather than buying in bulk, and uses local ingredients wherever possible. “We try to pay crazy attention to our details,” he said.

Jay also owns Moving Dough Pizza, which started out as a food truck before opening a permanent spot in Barrington. Its wood-fired pizzas are also served at The Local, which he says is the only place in East Providence offering them.

Community is a big part of the business. The bar supports local little league teams and charities, and on some Monday nights it hosts “The Local Give Back”, donating between 10 and 20 per cent of its takings to charity. Teachers and first responders also get 15 per cent off, wherever they’re from.

“I believe if you give back as much as you can and you support the community then the community will, in turn, support you,” Jay said. Jay was praised by the mayor of East Providence earlier this year for helping to deliver food to support the plow drivers who were battling harsh weather conditions

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