Just over a year after opening its fifth shop, New Haven-based Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana has now fired up its ovens in Danbury.
The pizzeria served free slices without announcement for several days before the grand opening Jan. 31 at its new 59 Federal Road location.
The 85-year-old New Haven fixture last opened a shop in Yonkers, N.Y., in the fall of 2009. It also has locations in Fairfield, Manchester and at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville.
“We make an artisan product, using high-quality ingredients, handcrafted in a brick oven that”™s an exact replica of the one in use in New Haven,” said Ken Berry, COO at Frank Pepe”™s Development Co. L.L.C., based in Southington. He said because pizzerias are such a common fixture in the New York metro area, the product has to be really exceptional if it is to stand out.
The pizzeria is known for its pies made with clams harvested from the Long Island Sound. Berry said there is also an element of the dramatic in the open-space kitchens, which act as the stage for ”˜pie men”™ who reach into 15-foot by 15-foot coal-fired brick ovens with 17-foot- long spatula paddles. The two 15 ton ovens at the new locations were built on site to the specifications of the one introduced at original Pepe”™s in 1938.
The partners at Frank Pepe”™s Development Co., including seven grandchildren of founder Frank Pepe, spent about $2 million on the new location. The Danbury restaurant employs about 45 workers, 25 of whom are full-time, many of which trained at the New Haven restaurant.
Berry said the family owned business has had its eyes on Danbury a few years now.
“It”™s a place where ”¦ we continue to have strong name recognition,” Berry said.
More expansion is planned over the next few years, he said, with additional plans for growth in Westchester County.
“We don’t want to grow so fast that we lose quality,” Berry said. “We have to be careful; you’re only as good as the last pizza you made.”
