Casapulla’s sandwich shops are a tight-knit operation. That, and a tasty product, are key to six decades of success.
By Kevin Noonan
Two things the Casapulla clan want you to know:
No. 1: Even though it seems as if one of their sandwich shops is on every street corner in Delaware, Casapulla’s sub shops are not part of a chain or a franchise — it’s a family business that just happens to have a lot of family.
No. 2: They never, ever considered calling their sandwiches hoagies.
Casapulla’s is a well-known name in Delaware, perhaps second only to du Pont. The group of family-owned sub shops has been feeding Delawareans for more than 60 years, and the brand is stronger than ever.
And so is the bond among family members, even though each sub shop is a separate entity owned and operated by one or more of the Casapullas. Other than their gene pool, there really is no connection between the various sub-making descendants of Luigi Casapulla, who started it all back in 1956.
That was after Luigi emigrated from Italy in 1921 and settled in Elsmere. Eventually, he and his wife, Anna, bought what was Phil’s Market, a small, neighborhood grocery store in a modest brick building that is still the heart of the Casapulla empire.
The young couple also made and sold sandwiches at their store and after Anna died, Luigi had an epiphany. His sandwiches were selling better than expected, and he realized that there were plenty of places in the area to buy groceries, but very few that sold subs, especially subs as tasty as Casapulla’s.
There weren’t many old-style sub shops in Wilmington in those days. It was before the advent of assembly-line chain stores such as Subway, Jersey Mike’s, Jimmy John’s and Wawa — so Casapulla’s quickly became a go-to stop for hungry Wilmingtonians.
Fast forward and now Casapulla’s is feeding people all over the state. All nine of Luigi’s children and all of his grandchildren have owned and/or worked at one of the shops, and most of them were weaned on the business at the original Elsmere store.
Now there are six different Casapulla Sub Shops, and the operative word there is “different.” There is no business connection between any of the shops and it’s an arrangement that, so far, has worked well.
“They do their own thing and we do our own thing,” says Annlynn Casapulla, one of Luigi’s granddaughters who now oversees operations at the Elsmere store, a place where she grew up. She was just 6 years old when her father, Andrew, would pick her up after school and head right to the original Casapulla’s, where she would hang out until it was time to head home. She started working there when she was 15 and she’s never left.
“I think we all understand that there’s a standard that’s been set for Casapulla subs,” she says, “and for all the shops, it’s all about quality and continuing the tradition that Luigi started. We just do it in our own way.”
The Beat Goes On
Luigi started it, and his son, Lou kept it going. In fact, the 81-year-old — also known to older generations as Lue Cazz, his stage name when he was a local rock and roll star in the 1950s and 1960s (he was inducted into the Delaware Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1976) — still clocks in at the Elsmere store every day, just as he has seemingly forever.
“Every morning, he’s the first one here,” Annlynn Casapulla says. “He’s amazing.”
Maybe it’s genetic — Luigi worked at the Elsmere shop until the day he died in 1985, when he was, like Lou, in his 80s.
Lou Casapulla acknowledges the non-family part of his family business and says it was never a real plan for the different members to open their own shops; it just happened over time. And he acknowledges the potential for trouble that exists in every family business, however, he says it’s never happened in his.
“The secret is that everyone does [their] own thing and nobody does it exactly the same way,” he says. “We just run our own stores and mind our own business.”
Still, Lou Casapulla says that if it had been up to him, Casapulla’s would have become a franchise brand and not so family-dominated.
“It really goes back to my dad,” he says. “He encouraged us to go off on our own, and that was his way of expanding the business without having to deal with all the business stuff. He just loved what he did and he wasn’t interested in getting rich.”
That’s a marked contrast from Casapulla’s main competition, Capriotti’s, which incorporated and now has its headquarters in, of all places, Las Vegas. Ironically, the founder of Capriotti’s, the late Lois Margolet, was a regular customer at Casapulla’s before starting her own sub shop in 1976. Now there are 112 Capriotti’s locations in 28 states.
Establishing A Beachhead
Meanwhile, the farthest the Casapulla’s have expanded is to Sussex County.
Paula Casapulla LaPenta is a perfect example of the family influence. Now 67, she started working in the Elsmere shop when she was 13. She initially wanted to be a pharmaceutical representative and even went to college in Minnesota with that goal in mind.
“But I quickly found out that the corporate world wasn’t for me,” she says.
So, she came home and jumped back in the family business. Eventually, she and her husband, Mike LaPenta — a former basketball star and coach at Salesianum School — decided to branch out on their own. So, they took a big leap, financially and geographically, and opened a Casapulla’s near Lewes.
That was 40 years ago and their business, now located off of Route 1, is still going strong. And their store is a little different than other Casapulla’s because it was the first one outside of New Castle County and the influx of out-of-state vacationers means they can’t rely on the Casapulla reputation to enhance their business.
“More than anything, we depend on word of mouth,” she says. “Up North, everyone knows about Casapulla’s because they grew up with it. People know it and love it. Here, you get so many people who aren’t from Delaware and know nothing about our history.
“But people find out. Now we have lots of out-of-state people who want to know how they can get our subs where they live. They recognize and appreciate the quality of our sandwiches and our service and they tell others.”
Paula says the secret to their success is the same as all the Casapulla sub shops — personal involvement.
“Mike and I are in here every day and that makes a difference,” she says. “We’re there to make sure the quality is there. So many other places have gone corporate and there aren’t many mom-and-pop stores around anymore. But when you come to one of our stores, you know that there will be a Casapulla working there and you know that you’ll get great service and great sandwiches. That’s how we’ve made our mark in Delaware for decades.”
And though Philadelphia, not Delaware, is often thought of as the promised land when it comes to those sandwiches and most people in the region (including Wawas in Delaware) call them hoagies, Lou Casapulla says neither he, his father nor any of their descendants felt they had to follow the leader.
“Why would we?” Lou Casapulla asks. “It’s called a sub because it has the same shape as a submarine, and everyone knows what a submarine looks like.
“But what’s a ‘hoagie’?”
Above: Lou Casapulla (center, green shirt) at the flagship Elsmere shop with other members of the Casapulla clan (l-r): Rose, Annlynn and Michelle. In back: Adam and Louis Jr. Photo by Justin Heyes.