Staff

John Capriole - Owner, General Manager
For nearly 40 years John has worked in food service, starting at his uncle's butcher shop in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He then went on to work for some of the best restaurants in Boston. Upon returning to the Merrimack Valley he started his own catering company, Creative Buffets, in 1984. Running a restaurant like Dharma Buns is a new venture for John, who has been personally handling every catering job for the last 25 years. He's a very hands on manager and does everything from preparing the food and cooking to loading and unloading the truck to even washing the dishes. He claims he simply likes to lead by example and believes that no job is beneath him.
Web site: Creative Buffets

Gary Bellwood (a.k.a. "PRG") - Head Chef
Despite his numerous tattoos and sometimes edgy demeanor, Gary is actually a highly skilled chef and a consummate professional. He has worked with John at Creative Buffets as well as several other restaurants over the past 25 years, including Andover's Casis Bistro, named Best Restaurant North of Boston by Boston Magazine and receiver of an exceptional Zagat rating during his tenure. Upon arrival to his "adopted hometown" of Lowell, Gary accepted the position of head chef at the landmark pub The Old Court, where his cooking became local legend. Later he continued to build his reputation at the thriving upscale deli Olive That & More. Gary's attention to detail and perfectionism in the kitchen is the key to the Dharma Buns flavor (and his love of punk rock can sometimes have an effect on our audio system, too).

Alex Capriole - Marketing, P.R., Design
A graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts with a B.F.A. in film & television, Alex was able to lend a strong knowledge of design aesthetic and marketing strategy to the Dharma Buns team. He's basically responsible for all but the food itself, including everything from the design of our uniforms to the layout of our dinning room. Alex writes and produces all of our promotional media and manages our entire web presence, acts as our in-house A/V technician, plans and executes all of our P.R. events, procured all of our non-food distributors and spent every other day of renovations on-location overseeing the construction. At the same time he's working on his budding film career, drafting screenplay notes out back on his smoke breaks.
Web sites: alexCapriole.com, Imaginary Friends Productions