Photography by Jan McBride
Bar manager Cindy Farrell and owner Sean Farrell in the bar space at Zachary’s Pizza.
Bar manager Cindy Farrell poured a purple drink with a sparkling ice cube and placed it on the bar counter.
She’s just created Purple Rain, one of four “electric” drinks offered at Zachary’s Pizza in Milton. The restaurant moved four doors down from its previous location last August.
With the move to 197 U.S. Route 7, Zachary’s store has tripled in size, from 1,800 square feet to 6,000 square feet, said Sean Farrell, Cindy’s husband and the company’s owner.
The restaurant also gained a cozy bar space that differs from the general dining space and family space at the front of the business.
“We’re kind of adjusting and adapting to a new space,” Sean said. “We found that our takeout business was huge before we moved, but in-person dining was limited because we didn’t have a lot of seating. Now, our takeout and bar businesses are doing very well.
The last time, Shawn She spoke to The IndependentHe mentioned that the new space also includes a larger room and that he is considering turning it into an arcade filled with coin-operated games. Now, he still listens to his customers to find out what they want.
While Zachary’s doesn’t aim to replicate its South Burlington location with the same amount of arcade games, it’s possible it could bring some of it from that location to Milton. If they did, there would probably be about 10-12 people to fit in the 450-square-foot room, Sean said.
Although some customers have asked if the company offers a conference room, that does not apply to the Milton location at this time.
“We just want to really get in touch with our space and know what we want to make sure we take good care of business before we add more seating to the mix,” he said.
Since the move, the company has also added more employees including bartenders, servers and cooks.
“We’ve been very lucky. A lot of people are signing up and wanting to come to work. I’m not sure if this is a sign of the times or if it’s a very good sign for us.”
Cindy said she thought the bar was something people would be excited about and look forward to, with many customers saying Milton needed something like this, and Sean agreed.
“It’s mostly isolated, away from the fans. So people come in, have a pint of beer and some wings, kick back and watch a game from an NFL ticket package.”
Cindy also hinted at the possibility of having live music and trivia at the bar to attract more community members.
“We plan to add some entertainment, maybe like a trivia night and some bands and some other things to liven it up and draw people in,” she said.
In addition to decorating the restaurant and bar with historical photos from the Milton Historical Society, there are eight monarch butterflies hidden throughout the restaurant, Cindy said.
“My father passed away about eight years ago, and every time I see a butterfly it reminds me of him. So we put monarch butterflies around the restaurant, and it was like he was watching us,” she said.
Zachary’s Pizza is open Sunday through Thursday from 11am to 9pm and Friday through Saturday from 11am to 10pm. To learn more about the work, visit their website at www.zacharyspizzavt.com.