Papa's Pizza Of Farmingdale Replaces Lenny's, Celebrates Grand Opening: 'Exciting'

FARMINGDALE, NY — Papa's Pizza celebrated its grand opening on Tuesday morning. The pizzeria replaced Lenny's Pizza Time at 199 Merritts Road, Farmingdale.

Orlando Fuentes, the owner, known as "Papa," assumed the location a couple of months ago and said it's "exciting" to be in Farmingdale.

"We are working hard to stay here," Fuentes told Patch. "We just need support from the community to stay here."

Fuentes, whose pizza career began more than 30 years ago at Umberto's when he was a teenager, said he was looking for a small location in a community.

"When I came here, I see all these houses behind me," he said. "It feels like home, you know, being here. You're close to everybody here. It's not like a big shopping center. It feels like a family."

A lot of people have tried Papa's Pizza since it took over Lenny's, Fuentes said.

"They're coming back, so that's a good feeling. That's what we want. Everybody to come in and at least give us the chance to show them what we got."

Joe Garcia, the president of the Farmingdale Chamber of Commerce, congratulated Fuentes and his family on the grand opening.

"We hope that part of what your dream was to open this pizzeria here in our town," Garcia said. "If nothing else, we're really excited to have you here. Congratulations."

Garcia, a manager of Weichert Realtors in Farmingdale, was holding his daughter during the ribbon cutting, while Fuentes held his granddaughter.

"Really, when you start your small business, we talk about small business season, it's about family, isn't it?" Garcia said. "It's about kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews. It's about building something for them. Something that lasts longer than us."

Fuentes has already made an effort to give back to the community, as he said Papa's Pizza was one of the first pizzerias to register for the Long Island Pizza Strong initiative, which raised money for those impacted by the deadly Farmingdale High School marching band bus crash.

Pizzerias across Long Island raised $102K for those affected by the crash, which killed two Farmingdale educators: band director Gina Pellettiere and retired teacher Bea Ferrari, who chaperoned the school's annual band camp trip.

"We're trying to help with whatever we can for the community, too," Fuentes said.