Exeter Chiefs forward Richard Capstick has opened two Fireaway pizza franchises in Taunton and Bridgewater and is hoping to become the Somerset’s answer to Papa John.
Richard Capstick is no stranger to being stopped in the street. Traditionally, people have commented on his performances on the rugby field for Exeter Chiefs, but now the Somerset locals in Bridgwater and Taunton tend to be more interested in the tomato sauce, crust and toppings on offer at his Fireaway pizza franchises.
Pizza cake!
While Exeter’s on-field struggles have been well documented this term, luckily for Capstick, the business venture he started with his older brothers Matthew and Michael seems to only be going from strength to strength two years in. Capstick says: “It actually started in lockdown when I was procrastinating from my uni work. Both my brothers were in the military; Mike in the Navy and Matt in the Marines. We all fancied having a little stab at something.”
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The Capstick boys were not complete strangers to the pizza world as their uncle was previously successful with a famous competitor that Richard declines to name (think tile-based game). Capstick adds: “I was looking at franchises online and mentioned the idea to them whilst they were away.
“We looked into it and enquired and it looked good. We thought, ‘we’re all young; if we put a bit of money into it and it goes wrong, it’s not the end of the world and we can go again.’ It was perfect timing as none of us were in relationships or had kids.”
Undoubtedly it was an exciting opportunity, but it was far from a no-brainer for these three likely lads. “It was 100% a leap of faith,” explains Capstick. “Both of my brothers left very promising careers. Michael was a Navy officer and Matt had been a Royal Marine for seven years at that point.
“It was a risk but the opportunity to become your own boss and have your own business which you can take where you want really appealed to us.”
Richard Capstick Plays for Exeter Chiefs (Rugby World)
For those who aren’t familiar with Fireaway, it’s a new player in the pizza space pioneered by CEO Mario Aleppo, who opened the first branch in 2016. Aleppo opened the first store in Sutton with a £25,000 bank loan and in 2022 the business was valued at just shy of £20million, so it has been quite the rise.
Making dough
Today, the Capstick brothers run two of Fireaway’s 150-plus stores but their first location in Bridgwater was found by dad John, whose own background in commercial property came in handy for his entrepreneurial sons when they opened their doors in January 2023.
“From there it just took off,” Capstick said. “We set a record on our opening day by selling out 800 pizzas by about 7.30pm! People were waiting for over an hour due to the sheer volume of customers, even though it only takes three minutes to cook the pizzas. It was very good!”
It was definitely a fast start but the backlog was an indicator for Capstick and Co that they should be wary of running before they could walk. He adds: “We did postal drops, I went out in town, but we didn’t know how big it was going to be. If anything, we learnt from that one that we sort of overdid it and we couldn’t serve everyone due to the sheer volume we were turning out.
“The support was incredible, especially from the local community. Luckily these two towns are very interconnected and people talk about the businesses. They aren’t the busiest places in the world, so when something is going well and it’s good, people get excited and word spreads. We are very fortunate.”
On the pitch
By his own admission, Capstick’s rugby career has stalled as a couple of torrid years with injury left the former England U20 star scrambling for game time after shoulder and neck surgery. The only upside was that his long lay-offs coincided with the start of the Capstick pizza empire and ensured he had no option but to get stuck in without the burden of performing on a Saturday.
“I was rehabbing my shoulder down in Exeter in the day and then I’d come home and go straight to Bridgwater and deliver pizzas until 10.30 at night, doing whatever I could to help it run smoothly. I’d often jump on the cutting station. The volume was massive at the start and we just wanted to give out the best product we could to the whole town, so we’d get good feedback and build a reputation. I think we did that really well and thankfully we put in the time.
“That injury was perfect timing but you never want to be injured. Instead of being excited for a game, I was excited to see how busy we were on a Friday and Saturday night. That was my buzz. Instead of playing on the weekend, I was out delivering pizzas. It’s not the same and nowhere near as good!”
The Fireaway Franchise (Rugby World)
Capstick is telling us all this in the front of the Taunton store, just a short walk and 90-minute train ride from Rugby World HQ in Paddington. We are in town on a Thursday night, so not quite peak time, but there’s a steady stream of customers all eager to be fed fast. Despite that, we get a full tour of the facilities, from the topping station to the dough stretching station and the cutting station, where Richard is most at home slicing up the pizzas ready for delivery.
However, the pièce de résistance is undoubtedly the incredibly impressive and incredibly hot massive pizza oven. Capstick tells us they can fit eight pizzas in at once, along with a few sides in the middle for good measure. Speed is the name of the Fireaway game and the 400-degree oven is key to ensuring pizzas are in and out in 180 seconds.
Teamwork is dreamwork
While the brothers are the heartbeat of the operation, we get to meet the rest of the team, including the famous Binty, who has made her mark on the boys at home and at work. “Binty gives us relationship advice, she talks about our girlfriends and tries to teach them some traditional Indian values which they aren’t too happy about,” jokes Capstick.
The impressive oven is where the magic happens
“She says they should look after their man properly and make sure we don’t lift a finger at home, which they don’t like! She actually broke up one of my brother’s relationships with his girlfriend. It was on the way out but she put the nail in the coffin. That’s worth a bonus!”
On a serious note, the brothers have found out there is more to it than just pushing out the Pepperonis for profit. “You learn a lot about things like how you get taxed on all your profits and how to manage that,” adds Capstick. “You’ve got to be flexible with staff as you don’t know what’s going on in their lives, so you need to be accommodating to make sure they are enjoying it.
“One thing we have done is build really good teams in both our stores. It’s a happy place to work – everyone gets along and chats with each other.” After the success of the Bridgwater store, the brothers made their initial investment back but doubled down and opened a second location in Taunton, where Capstick grew up plying his trade at the town’s rugby club, whose first team, Taunton Titans, play in National Two.
In a way, Capstick has come full circle: “I know some of the boys there and they’ll say they want 50 pizzas after training. We’ll sort it and drop them off for a good price to help them out.”
They are also the main sponsor for brother Matt’s Rebels Rugby side based out of the nearby college and offer free pizzas for the Man of the Match at various local games. “Across the town, we support clubs as it’s a good way of advertising and we also all love sport. We have cricket clubs and netball too.”
Richard Capstick is serving on an off the pitch (Getty Images)
Professional rugby players are no strangers to a post-match pizza and once his Chiefs team-mates got whiff of Capstick’s new pursuit, interest piqued. “At first, I told some of the lads I’m close with like Billy Keast, as he went through setting up a coffee business with a close mate. They were all supportive and Billy had some advice for me on where to learn from his mistakes from his own experience.
“Everyone has shared it on social media – some of the lads have great followings, so that has given us a bit of a boost. If only a few of them lived a little closer to Taunton and Bridgwater, it might be more locally attractive!
“They all jokingly asked for a discount when I opened. I said they can have 3% off and they all thought I was being deadly serious, which says a bit about me and how cheap they all think I am! When we had a summer social up at the (Somerset) cricket ground, which is only 200 yards away, before the game about ten of the lads tried the pizza and loved it and took a photo and shared it.
“They are really supportive. That’s the good thing about the club; we are such a close group of lads that everyone wants everyone to do well, especially outside of rugby. If anyone has a business then we will all share it.”
Sadly the 30-mile journey to Sandy Park means Capstick is unable to have his own pizza after a home game, a concept his colleagues haven’t all grasped. “I don’t think they understand you don’t want a pizza sat in the car for 30 minutes, it will be cold! I always tell them they are welcome to come up anytime and have a pizza in store…”
Family affair
Now that he is back playing regularly again – much to his delight – his brothers are doing the heavy lifting on the day-to-day side of operations. “Michael and Matthew are seamless. Mike does a lot of the accounts and the behind-the-scenes stuff. Matthew is like the head chef and a lot more in-store and manages all the staff, doing the rotas and making sure they’re all happy.”
While it’s very much a family business and family feel, not everyone was on board when the project was kickstarted. “My dad loved the idea but my mum thought we were crazy and said, ‘Don’t do it, don’t do it!’ She wanted us to keep doing what we were doing as we were doing really well but now she loves it. “She is really proud of us. Now she’s retired from the NHS, I might get her to come in and help scrub the equipment!”
While comments like that make Capstick appear quite the taskmaster, his work ethic should come as no surprise given how he plays his rugby. Work-rate is a bedrock of his game and effort is never lacking. He has even had the new challenge of moving forward from the back row to the engine room this season, with Exeter’s director of rugby Rob Baxter placing emphasis on the back-five forwards’ versatility.
Richard Capstick making a pizza for Rugby World
“Nowadays everyone wants someone who can play multiple positions because of the smaller squads in the Prem. It adds another string to your bow. This is my first year (in the second row) but I’m lineout calling now and I actually really enjoy it. It’s gone pretty well so far. I think Rob’s pretty happy with how that’s gone – or at least he keeps allowing me to do it, so we will see how long it lasts!
“It makes me more attractive as with injuries you need people to fill in spots. It’s been a good challenge for me. It makes my week a bit different and I’ve got to look at the game from a different perspective; there’s a different interaction with the coaches and what they want from you changes. It’s more of a leadership role; you are involved in more leadership meetings. You have a close relationship with the coaches too.”
Rugby World tucks into a slice of pizza (Rugby World)
Haydn Thomas was promoted to defence coach after Omar Mouneimne was let go at the end of October, paying the price for poor results. Exeter’s first Premiership win of the season came at the ninth attempt against Gloucester on 29 December.
But it was another staff member in skills coach Ricky Pellow who converted Capstick into a fearsome forward. “I started off playing fly-half until about U14 or U15 in the academy, when Ricky crushed my dreams and moved me to the back row. He said I was too tall for it! I miss those days. I kicked the ball all the time. That was the transition and now I’ve made it a bit further forward.
“It’s not that different really, you’re just a lot more tired when you get up from a scrum! It has its perks and its negatives.” A sports science graduate from Exeter, Capstick knows the value of having outside interests away from the game and believes it helps post-retirement. “I wasn’t just around rugby lads all the time but people from different walks of life, so uni broadened my horizons.”
After spending the best part of 18 months on the treatment table, this year has felt like a reintroduction for Capstick, whose form was so good in 2022 that Eddie Jones had initiated contact. International rugby is still the aim but a move into property or adult social care, as well as getting his golf handicap from 14 to scratch, are also on the agenda.
The two Fireaway franchises are flying for the brothers, so now Capstick is fully focused on delivering on the pitch to return Exeter to rugby’s upper crust.
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