Jake N’ Joes to Hire 60 to 65 Locals at Foxborough Location

Jake N’ Joes Sports Grille is coming to Foxborough and will be looking to hire 60 to 65 employees from the area when it gets closer to its November opening, according to Gerrard D. Fruggiero, the restaurant’s manager.

“We expect to hire 60 to 65 people from the local communities to work for us,” Fruggiero told the Foxborough Board of Selectmen at Tuesday’s public hearing regarding the liquor license transfer from Piccadilly Pub to Jake N’ Joes. “Once we get into a timeline of opening and are four weeks from anticipated training of staff, we will do on-site hiring where we will set up a trailer to do interviewing and hiring.”

In its application to the town, – the former site of Piccadilly Pub, .

While Jake N’ Joes is described as a sports grille, Fruggiero and owner James Nocera – who also owns The Chateau Restaurant Company – said their restaurants are family friendly and food first.

“We are 60 percent food, 40 percent liquor,” said Nocera. “We are not a liquor place. We are a food place first and liquor comes second. It’s really worked out well."

Fruggiero added the restaurant should not be thought of as a pub or tavern.

“It’s particularly different from a pub or a tavern,” Fruggiero said. “With a pub or tavern people more or less just sit there and drink beer. We are a restaurant first [establishment] with a sports bar concept.”

Jake N' Joes Sports Grille is the product of a dream Nocera and his brother had of wanting to open a sports grille. In 2010, they got that opportunity in Norwood.

“Our family is very into sports, six boys in the family and we were really into sports,” Nocera said. “We always wanted to try a sports grille. We had the opportunity across the street from The Chateau in Norwood to give this a try and it has gone very well. We enjoy it … all throughout the day it has different clientele – from business during the day to families for dinner and a late, younger night crowd.”

The Foxborough location will be only the second Jake N’ Joes Sports Grille in the country and was well received by the Board of Selectmen at Tuesday’s meeting.

“I had lunch Tuesday at the Norwood establishment and it was very good and I think it will be a nice addition to the town,” said selectman Virginia Coppola. “The food was good and the staff was very nice.”

Foxborough Town Manager Kevin Paicos said he has eaten many times at The Chateau Restaurants throughout the area and called the addition of a Nocera business a “real win for Foxborough.”

“The Nocera family name is extremely well known and extremely well respected,” Paicos said. “Every one of their restaurants is impeccable. They are all successful. … This is a very welcomed restaurant in town and the Nocera family will be great corporate partners for the community.”

The Board of Selectmen approved the transfer of the all alcohol restaurant license from Piccadilly Disposition LLC (Piccadilly Pub) to Grand Slam Restaurant Concepts Foxborough LLC DBA (Jake N’ Joes) Tuesday, green lighting the business to operate in town. Selectmen chair James DeVellis recused himself from the hearing because of a potential conflict of interest.

Jake N’ Joes plans to renovate the current space at 25 Foxborough Blvd., “knocking down walls and brightening up” the interior, according to John Michelmore of Foxborough, who represented Jake N’ Joes at Tuesday’s hearing.

“Piccadilly Pub had a lot of walls and it was very dark. Jake N’ Joes is proposing to knock down those walls, open up the space and brighten it up,” Michelmore said.

The proposed layout of the restaurant will feature two dining rooms and one bar with plenty of big screen televisions. The bar will seat 28 while dining room one will seat 80 patrons and dining room two will seat 92, according to the company’s proposed floor plan.

The square footage of the restaurant space, currently at 7,800, is expected to remain unchanged as a result of the renovations, according to the application.

Nocera said at some point, he would like to explore the possibility of adding an outdoor patio or outdoor seating but that won’t happen for “about a year.”

“We would consider doing some type of outdoor patio but it might be a year later when we ask for that,” Nocera said. “We would consider doing something outside. It’s a nice touch and we would like to be able to do that at some point.”

The restaurant owner added that he likes his establishments to be apart of the community and would like to have that same relationship in Foxborough.

“One of the things my family is most proud of is really working with the community with fundraisers and things that go on that we can help out with,” Nocera said. “We want to be apart of the community.”

Board of Selectmen vice chair Mark Sullivan, who acted as chair during the public hearing was satisfied with what he heard from Jake N’ Joes’ representatives and rolled out the welcome mat for Foxborough’s newest business.

“Welcome to town,” he said.

Selectmen also approved Jake N’ Joes application for Common Victuallers license at Tuesday’s meeting.

Jake N’ Joes Sports Grille, according to its , is “a contemporary American restaurant and bar that features a wide variety of dining options for lunch and dinner, including appetizers such as nachos, wings, quesadillas, tacos, spring rolls, bread sticks and sliders, salads, soups, specialty and create-your-own burgers, steak tips, ribs, fajitas and more. Jake N' Joes Sports Grille additionally serves draft beer, red and white wines and cocktails, and provides DJ and live entertainment.”

The Norwood location is at 475 Boston Providence Tpke.