Community says goodbye as rent hike forces beloved South Jersey pizzeria to close after nearly 3 decades
SEWELL, N.J. (CBS) — Ken Ford and Chuck Green have poured their entire lives into the pizza business. The two buddies grew up together in Northeast Philadelphia and began working at a pizza shop together when they were 16. They made their dream come true in their late twenties, opening their own shop, Papa's Pizza, in 1996.
"I knew Ken was the best pizza maker I ever met in my life," Green said. "I was like, we can do this."
Now, that dream is coming to an end. Wednesday was Papa's Pizza's final day. Loyal customers poured through the doors to say goodbye to what they called a "second home" at the Sewell, New Jersey, restaurant.
"It's the best pizza I ever had," said customer Keen Hamilton. "It's more about the family, though."
Mark Walters, another patron, said it's the community at the shop that keeps him coming back.
"They're solid guys, always a good word, always a friendly atmosphere," Walters said.
Ford and Green said when their lease was up this year, the building's owners, DLC Management Group, presented them with a new lease. The new contract raised the rent and added new trash and water expenses that would increase their monthly payments by roughly 32%, according to the owners. They say they simply can't afford the new rent and had to close.
"It's terrible," Green said. "I haven't slept in like three weeks."
CBS News Philadelphia has reached out to DLC Management group and has yet to hear back.
"It wasn't my decision," Ford said.
On July 28, Ford's wife, Andrea, posted a video to Facebook that has been shared nearly 800 times, with customers expressing sadness and even outrage over the pizza shop's closure. Andrea said they've sold out of food every day since the video has been posted.
"They have been coming in droves," Andrea Ford said. "We can't keep food in – we keep running to the restaurant supply to get food because we keep running out of food."
Ken Ford says the support from the community has been overwhelming.
"At the same time stuff's being taken away from me, I also feel like I was a very lucky person," he said.