Sabut Kelapa: Cappza's Pizza expands into Farmingdale - Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Cappza's Pizza expands into Farmingdale - Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel

FARMINGDALE — Takeout options for Farmingdale-area residents increased earlier this month with the opening of Cappza’s Pizza.

The new location, at 398 Maine Ave., is the second Cappza’s location.

The flagship restaurant opened about a decade ago at 255 Main St. in Waterville. It is fair to say the restaurant has become a staple in Waterville; it’s been voted the best pizza, best sandwiches and best takeout in the city for seven straight years.

Owners Chad and Janice Partridge said the business has been strong in the restaurant’s first week and exceeded their expectations.

“It’s been phenomenal,” Chad Partridge said. “It’s been very busy. Friday, Saturday, Sunday we were out straight.”

On Thursday, diners were walking through the door in a steady stream, making orders for takeout and grabbing slices to go. Adam Estes, of Farmingdale, was picking up a pizza for himself and some co-workers at Core Cutter, a short distance away on Maine Avenue.

Estes said he grew up in Fairfield and was aware of Cappza’s, but this was the first time he had ordered from it.

“We love any extra options,” he said, adding that Farmingdale has very few takeout options. “We’re always excited to try new ones.”

Glenn Steuber cuts a pizza Thursday at the recently opened Cappza’s Pizza in Farmingdale. Kennebec Journal photo by Joe Phelan

The Partridges both have roots in the restaurant business. Chad’s family operated Al’s Pizza in Skowhegan and Janice, who is from New Orleans, said she has worked in restaurants since she was 17.

The restaurant’s manager, Glenn Steuber, is also familiar with the business. He was the contractor who built it. Steuber said transitioning the property from a car wash to a pizzeria was his final job as a contractor. He is now training to take over day-to-day operations at the restaurant

Along with the usual sandwich and pizza options, Chad Partridge said the BBQ chicken and Buffalo chicken nachos have been selling well. Steuber added that the eatery’s baked goods, which are made daily at an off-site bakery along with their pizza dough, are also customer favorites.

The restaurant’s whoopie pies have won four awards — in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014 — at the Maine Whoopie Pie Festival in Dover-Foxcroft.

“Nothing here is preprocessed,” Steuber said. “We shred the lettuce and cook the chicken every day.”

Janice Partridge said the three decided to open up a shop in Farmingdale after studying traffic patterns and the density of small towns in a small land area. Chad Partridge said he was looking to start a new venture with Steuber that would result in a new type of business.

“Glenn and I wanted to partner up on something and we decided to stick to what I know, instead of venturing into another type of business,” he said. “We kind of had our eyes on this area. We liked the looks of the Farmingdale-Gardiner area as far as the demographics.”

Cappza’s Pizza has opened at the former home of the Foggy Bottom self-serve car wash in Farmingdale.

A short distance down the road in Gardiner, pizza options have dwindled since Domino’s on Water Street was destroyed by a fire. The building’s owner, Fernando Jantorno Stelser, said he plans to rebuild.

Chad Patridge said his restaurant, which offers delivery within a 5-mile radius, has coexisted with other pizza shops and thrived in Waterville. Thus, he welcomed the possibility of Domino’s returning to Gardiner.

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