Tuesday, Jun 24, 2025
Patrick Jones ’18 takes over Captain Paul's Firehouse Dogs in Lawrence
by Adam Grybowski
In April, when Captain Paul's Firehouse Dogs opened for the season, the man in the back struggling to properly prepare the coleslaw wasn’t any new employee; he was the new owner.
Patrick Jones ’18 had only closed on purchasing the seasonal restaurant, located on Princeton Pike in Lawrence Township, New Jersey, about three weeks earlier. A special education teacher with Mercer County Technical Schools, he had never run a restaurant before, operated a business, managed employees — or prepared coleslaw at this scale.
“Coming from the education world, there has been a lot of learning and growing for me each day,” says Jones, who has taken over the restaurant in partnership with his mother, Debbie. “It has been a crash course in learning restaurant cooking, hospitality and employee management.”
Captain Paul’s menu boasts a couple dozen varieties of hot dogs (including one named after Rider alumnus Omar Vázquez ’07, who was killed while serving in Iraq), about half as many sandwiches (including one dedicated to Rider students), ice cream, sides and more.
But it wasn’t the food or even the prospect of a supplemental income to boost his teacher’s salary that spurred Jones’ interest in Captain Paul’s.
“The biggest thing for us is that it’s a community place,” he says. “It’s in the neighborhood. You can give back. That was something the original owners were big on, and they were happy we were going to keep the legacy going. This isn’t a business where we’re going to make enough money to retire early. The community, the people — those are the biggest things.”
Paul Tweedly opened Captain Paul’s in 2009 when he retired from the Trenton Fire Department after 26 years of service. Decked out with decor associated with emergency services and the military, the family-owned and operated restaurant has celebrated the ideals of service and sacrifice since its beginning. Tweedly has run many fundraisers for emergency services, a tradition that Jones is continuing and expanding upon. In June alone, the restaurant has planned about 10 events involving surrounding schools and organizations like Special Olympics of New Jersey Mercer County and Amazing Mutts Puppy Rescue.
My passion is doing something in the community that has an impact."
Such values have long resonated with Jones, who imbibed them as a youngster simply by watching — and later modeling — the behavior of his generous mother, who recently retired as a paraprofessional from Lawrence Intermediate School.
“My mom was always very involved in the community and focused on helping people out,” he says. “I saw that path and knew it was right for me.”
Jones enrolled at Rider as an elementary education and political science major, mainly because he saw the subjects as a way to make a positive contribution to those around him.
“My passion is doing something in the community that has an impact,” he says. “I definitely feel like I make an impact through my relationships with my students and helping them achieve their potential.”
He has contributed in other ways outside of the classroom as well. At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Jones created Ewing Helping Hands to organize food donations for local families in his hometown. He has also served as a project manager for Greater Trenton, a nonprofit that promotes economic development in Trenton.
Even compared to those experiences, jumping into owning and operating a restaurant cold has been, at times, uniquely stressful, and Jones admits his inexperience has led to moments of doubt, frustration and questioning what he has gotten himself into. Luckily for him, Tweedly and his wife, Janice, have stayed on as advisors to help him through the transition. When Jones bungled the coleslaw recipe during his first week, Tweedly was present to walk him through the process and make sure he got it right.
“They’ve shown me the ropes, but I make mistakes and I’m still learning,” Jones says. “When I was at Rider, I had moments like that too. I remember persevering by reassessing challenges to better understand them and their root causes and how to solve them. I‘m excited to see how we will be rolling in the summer. My vision is to make sure we’re running at the same high level but to also keep expanding as a community place.”