Papa Gino's

[JimSawhill]

All:

     The First d'Angelo's in Connecticut was in East Hartford near Pratt-Whitney. It opened up about 1974 after Howdy Beefburger closed. The location is next to the coca-Cola plant on Main Street.
     When my business was in East Hartford -- I used to walk up to D'Angelo's for lunch.


JimS

[Marc82]

Saw this in The Hartford Courant:

Own Your Own Papa Gino's

Come to our Open House

Sheraton Hotel East Hartford, CT



Somewhere I have to dig out the date and time.

[C. Fontaine]

Yeah, Papa Gino's is finally starting to franchise.  I remember we were told this was supposed to begin years ago, but home office liked the fact that the restaurants were corporately owned, especially since most D'Angelos were frachised out.

[XISMZERO]

The first Papa Gino's came to Connecticut in 1975 at the opening of East Brook Mall in Willimantic.

There was one in Bishops Corner in West Hartford but I have no idea when it opened. Also don't remember when it closed.

The next one came to the Charter Oak Mall in 1976 followed by the one in Vernon, which opened in 1980. The Charter Oak Mall one disappeared when they demalled in the early 1990s.

The East Brook one is still hanging in there, as is Vernon as some of the oldest stores.

The 1980's brought a slew of new stores, most of which are gone today. Norwich and Windsor Locks are survivors from 1983 (and possibly '84) still goin'.

[XISMZERO]

WILLIMANTIC, CT / EAST BROOK MALL (December 2006).

[XISMZERO]

NEW BRITAIN, CT.

No longer vacant today, has since been occupied by a small/local pizza joint. Here's what it looked like on July 2, 2007. This was the only one in the area.

[XISMZERO]

NORWICH, CT (November 2007).

[XISMZERO]

NORWICH, CT.

The road sign.

[XISMZERO]

WINDSOR LOCKS. Across from Bradley Int'l Airport.

Has a two-level dining area like ones in Bristol and Southington did.

[XISMZERO]

WINDSOR LOCKS, CT. Been here since 1983.

[XISMZERO]

VERNON-ROCKVILLE. Opened in 1980.

[XISMZERO]

FOXBORO, MA on Commercial Street in the vacant Bradlees/Foxborough plaza.

Taken 1-8-08.

[XISMZERO]

FOXBORO, MA on Commercial Street in the vacant Bradlees/Foxborough plaza.

Taken 1-8-08.

[XISMZERO]

SPRINGFIELD, MASS on the WILBRAHAM line, down past the Eastfield Mall.

[XISMZERO]

SPRINGFIELD, MA on the WILBRAHAM line.

I've never seen a road sign like this one before. Their pizza is *excellent* but is it really deemed Boston's favorite?

[XISMZERO]

FRANKLIN, MA in the Stop & Shop-Marshalls plaza.

Ate dinner here that night...

[XISMZERO]

FRANKLIN, MA -- the sign outside the door

[XISMZERO]

FRANKLIN, MA -- a small sign hanging near the door

[XISMZERO]

I can't figure out why Papa Gino's does so well (there's a ton of shops) in its hometown of Massachusetts but flounders in Connecticut and hasn't even dipped into the New York market.

Their pizza is excellent and fine quality; like butter and is just a simple and very tasty. They're kind of expensive, sure, but they kick the pants off just about every chain and otherwise pizza parlor I've been to in my travels.

Is Papa's like a Mass. secret?!

[C. Fontaine]

Haha, I worked for them in the Worcester region as a manager for almost four years.  Corps. communication with their stores is the worst, which is why some are so ghetto and left unchecked.  They've done so well partly because all their stores are corporately owned, not franchised like Dominos or Papa Johns.  I filled as manager for about 8 stores in my time there, and the food cost is one thing we always did well on.  For example, the breadsticks are legendary to some people.  They sell for $5.49 last time I checked, with food/labor/oven costs it only cost us less than $1.00 max to make a pan, so thats quite a markup.  Same with the pizza, base price increased $2.00 while I was there, citing rising cheese costs, which we majorly skimped on anyways!

I've actually got two medals for making pizza, I was good enough to be runner up in corporate's "Pizalympics!"  Their home offices are up in Dedham.  Their break room and corporate restaurant is pretty neat up there.  I remember trying the "rustic" pizza when it was merely a concept!  When I went up for all my classes we had lunch there, its all outfitted with Coca-Cola memorabilia, yet they switched to Pepsi years ago and have a Pepse machine in the room!

[momof3]

A New pizza place has moved into the old New Britain Papa Ginos location, The food is very very good with good size portions and the employees are very nice.  I highly reccomened it.....

[C. Fontaine]

Originally posted by XISMZERO
FRANKLIN, MA -- the sign outside the door

Haha, I've got a picture of when some hooligans ripped our sign off the wall!  On a friday night right out from under our noses.

[frameguy2704]

New papa gino's being bulit in Coventry RI, I was wondering what the construction was and today they put up a sign saying it was a future Papa Gino's

[Zayre88]

Papa Gino's inside Lilac Mall in Rochester NH.  The Kmart across the restaurant does not have a Little Caesars Pizza station !

[XDeSuEhTX]

Never heard of Papa Gino's. We have Gino's and Papa John's... but no Papa Gino's.

[wwefan101]

  our pappar gainos and dangloes delvers now wooooo pizza and subs delvered how sweet   almost evey one in town delvers wich is great

[RogerAnthony]

The Papa Gino's in Bishops Corner (West Hartford) probably closed around 2000.  It's now part of Liggett's Pharmacy.

[wwefan101]

 our pappa ginos in webster ma got a face lift hers what it looks like now
<a href="http://s199.photobucket.com/albums/aa150/websterma101/restaunts/?action=view&current=pappaginosnewlook.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa150/websterma101/restaunts/pappaginosnewlook.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>  i know it was takeing from a distance but that shoping center was busy

[Marc82]

Originally posted by momof3
A New pizza place has moved into the old New Britain Papa Ginos location, The food is very very good with good size portions and the employees are very nice.  I highly reccomened it.....

That place didn't last too long. It was out of business before January 2009.

[C. Fontaine]

Originally posted by wwefan101
 our pappa ginos in webster ma got a face lift hers what it looks like now
<a href="http://s199.photobucket.com/albums/aa150/websterma101/restaunts/?action=view&current=pappaginosnewlook.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa150/websterma101/restaunts/pappaginosnewlook.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>  i know it was takeing from a distance but that shoping center was busy

It's about time.  Back in the day when I worked there we were about 2nd to last on the renovation list.  The place was in terrible shape.