Caputo’s Market & Deli CEO Matt Caputo said the business has received more than 500 five-star reviews since Friday.
(Yelena Caputo) Caputo’s Market & Deli set up a booth at in the store’s parking lot on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in support of anti-ICE protesters.
The story of a Salt Lake City business’s response to a protest in its neighborhood happened in three parts: The business supported the protesters, a backlash produced a batch of negative reviews, and then customers countered with hundreds of five-star reviews.
The protest, on the evening of Jan. 8, at Pioneer Park, was to decry the actions of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent, who shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis the day before. The protest was across the street from Caputo’s Market and Deli, and the store’s employees set up a booth in the store’s parking lot, handing out snacks and coffee to protesters.
A sign along the front of the stand read: “Free food & drinks for protesters — No ICE!“ Caputo’s also gave the chilly protesters a literal warm welcome, with a tall propane heater set up at the booth.
Caputo’s CEO Matt Caputo appeared on camera that night with Fox 13, and said, “No matter how you feel about illegal immigration, I think that we need to reflect on how things are going in our country and how we want to treat human beings.”
He told The Salt Lake Tribune on Tuesday that “people were super thankful” when they saw the Caputo’s booth. “Even people that didn’t necessarily partake, kind of walking by, thanked us, and it felt like in a dark and cold night with a really grim sort of feeling to it, we were still able to have some community feelings,” he said.
(Yelena Caputo) Matt Caputo stands in front of a Caputo’s booth in the market’s parking lot, across the street from an anti-ICE protest in Pioneer Park on Jan. 8.
On Friday, the day after the protest, Caputo said his business started to receive negative reviews, emails and Instagram messages, criticizing the business for its support of the protesters.
In a one-star review, someone who identified themselves as a long-time Caputo’s customer said they wouldn’t support the business again because of its involvement with the protest.
In response, Matt Caputo wrote, “We are sorry to see you go. It is important to us to speak our minds and stand up for what we believe in, and we always aim to do so respectfully, a tradition that goes back to our founder.”
“The Caputo family will always stand with immigrants, regardless of financial consequences,” Caputo continued.
He told The Tribune that his family is made up of immigrants from Italy and Greece. His wife, Yelena, is an Armenian refugee of the former Soviet Union who came to the United States when she was 10, he said.
Caputo’s received a direct message on Instagram saying that businesses shouldn’t take political stances. On Tuesday, Matt Caputo said his dad, Caputo’s founder Tony Caputo, wasn’t afraid to make his politics known, and would sometimes post signs in the store supporting specific political candidates.
Years ago, Matt Caputo said, a customer was upset over the signs and told Tony that they wouldn’t be coming back. Matt recalled that he asked his dad if they should take the signs down. Tony, his son said, told him, “Matt, if you can’t stand up for what you believe in, then what are we even doing here?”
Matt Caputo said they received about a dozen negative messages and reviews overall, and that they were still coming in on Tuesday.
He posted some of them on Instagram. Then, “Holy moly, did people react,” he said.
Since Friday, Caputo’s customers have posted more than 500 five-star reviews of the business between Google and Yelp, Matt Caputo said.
The reviews praised Caputo’s deli, its staff, its high-quality products and classes, as well as its involvement with the protest. Matt Caputo said people were also sharing their family histories with Caputo’s, with some writing about how they used to come into the store as kids and now they’re bringing their own kids in.
“It was just super cool to hear what Caputo’s means to the community,” Matt Caputo said.
He wouldn’t say Tuesday whether the market would continue to be involved in anti-ICE protests, but that he and his family would.
“We have people that work for us, friends [and] family, my in-laws, who are immigrants, refugees,” he said. “A lot of these people, not all, are feeling scared and uncomfortable. We’re talking about U.S. citizens feeling like they could be targeted because of the color of their skin, how they look, because they have an accent. … I think we’ve gone too far.”
