History
The Fairway Restaurant and Pizzeria, located on Route 6 in North Eastham, specializes in delicious, homemade foods and warm, friendly service.
We’re all family here at the Fairway, with sisters, parents, and husbands working together to provide our customers with nothing but the best: quality foods made with quality ingredients, served in a comfortable, inviting place.
That’s why locals and visitors alike have been joining us for nearly twenty years, both here and at our sister locations, the Hole in One Donut Shop in Eastham, and the Hole in One Donut Shop and Restaurant in Orleans.
We are committed to our customers and the Cape community we love, and show our support for local schools and community fundraisers whenever possible. Come join us at our upcoming events!
Please stop by and see us next time you’re on the Cape. We promise it won’t be your last!
Timeline of the Fairway Restaurant and Hole in One
1989 – Tom and Cindy Bazzano purchased the Eastham Hole in One Donut Shop. Their daughter, Kristina was
working for the previous owner.
1990 – The Eastham location was managed by Kristina and her husband Peter.
1992 – Tom and Cindy purchased the Orleans location, which had been the Le’ Gourmet Wine & Cheese Shop, and reconstructed it to be a restaurant as a satellite location for Hole in One Donut Shop. Lori and Bob worked to get Orleans ready in the winter and opened summer of 1992.
1993 – Orleans Hole in One had a bakery and served breakfast and lunch.
Jamie and her husband Dan moved to Eastham and joined the family business.
1995 – Ken and Erica moved to the Cape in April when their son was 6 months old. Erica wanted to raise her kids with her sisters and their kids. The business allowed them to raise their children together without daycare. The sisters would work the night shift then switch with the husbands, who would work the morning and afternoon shifts. The husbands would make muffins at 3am, open at 5am and work until 3pm then clean up and get home around 4.
1996 – The landlord of the Eastham Donut Shop told them they had to stop the donut production in that location, so they found a rental space on Finlay Road and moved 2 fryers, mixers and cutting tables and all the ingredients to produce donuts in the new location.
They started making muffins (wholesale) at the facility on Finlay Road for themselves and other markets, including: Larry’s Px in Chatham, Brewster General Store, Pleasant Bay convenience store and 18 other stores.
The family had 20 wholesale accounts providing donuts and muffins to local businesses but wanted to pick up more. They contacted Star Market in Belmont and Tedeschi Markets in Rockland and were given the accounts of all Star Markets and Tesheshi’s between Bourne and Provincetown. They then realized how difficult that would be logistically/financially. Making daily deliveries from Bourne to Ptown was problematic so they teamed up with a company called Bagel Port in Hyannis. The men drove to Hyannis and gave him donuts and muffins for the Star Markets and Tedeschi Markets from Hyannis to Bourne and they took the Bagel accounts from Hyannis to Ptown. They had the Star Market and Tedeschi Markets account for 2 years.
For years the sisters would work from 6:00 or 7:00 at night so they would be with their kids during the day. Dan, Ken and Bob worked from 3 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon, go home to feed the kids and eat as a family before the sisters would go start the 3rd production (7pm until 2:30 or 3am). They would leave the car running and pass each other on the stairs. This was 7 days a week for many years. The sisters would take the kids to the beach around 10am and try to rest while the children played in the sand.
It was a leap of faith to sell their homes and leave their jobs off Cape and then to purchase houses in the Eastham area. A sacrifice all families had to make in order to raise their kids with the sisters’ families and all of their cousins. Today the cousins are like siblings.
1997 – Four families were supported by these businesses by this point. Ken and his wife had kids and were both working 7 days a week. This was not sustainable so Ken told Tom he couldn’t keep working as an employee and proposed becoming a partner and incorporating the business. They went from a sole proprietorship to an S Corporation with shares distributed between the sisters and their husbands.
1998 – The wholesale model wasn’t sustainable, so the family considered buying Fleming Donuts since they had a production center and retail location locally. In the 11th hour, after looking at the numbers and building leases, things weren’t adding up and Ken had a bad feeling, so they didn’t close the deal.
They also didn’t like the agreement because it didn’t include the ownership of the building. The Fleming Donuts owners were leasing. Ken’s father-in-law was in real estate and wanted to purchase the buildings.
Rent for Fairway was increasing, and they wanted to buy Frank Riordan out. They started a 5-year lease-to-buy agreement for the Eastham buildings in October 1998 and by 2001, the building was theirs.
September 1999 was the first year they had both breakfast and dinner year-round. Donut and muffin production was brought back to Eastham, and they terminated the 20 wholesale accounts to concentrate on their own operations.
2000 – In the Eastham location, Ken ran breakfast, Dan ran dinner, and the sisters ran the bakery goods production.
There was a shed where all the donut and muffin mixes were kept which required going out the back of the donut production area, walking around the building to the shed, getting the fifty-pound bags and then bring them into the kitchen. So, in 2000, Frank signed off on the building permits to attach and expand the Eastham Whole in One and Fairway Restaurant buildings both, in the back and front (since he was still on the property, he had to sign off on everything until the lease-to-buy was finalized).
2000 – The bathrooms were relocated from the back of the building to the front, the patio was enclosed and air conditioning and heating systems were installed. Capacity was increased from 30 seats to 115 which made a huge difference in the business. There was 3 times the income but also 3 times the work, which led to some growing pains. They paid off the remaining 2 years of the lease as well as the balloon payment that same year.
2013 – The Orleans Whole in One location underwent renovation. That same year Tom passed away.
2014 – The Eastham bakery underwent major renovations. Ken gave the contactor 3 months. He needed to reopen April 15th, before April vacation. After the renovation the business grew past their wildest imaginations.
2020 – Pivoting during Covid and trying to stay open, while keeping the restaurant looking presentable and safe, was difficult. During this time, they retro fitted the operations for proper service and helped take care of their employees financially, including health insurance and some utility bills despite revenue loss.
2021 – Cindy passed away
The family started looking for a buyer for the restaurants. John and Brenda Kesaris had a home in West Yarmouth and stopped in the Orleans location for his favorite Cinnamon Bun. John liked the food, the staff, the menu, and the building so when he found out it was for sale, they worked with their business broker to start the process of buying all 3 locations in January of 2022. They signed the purchase and sale in April and finally closed December 30th once John sold his other 2 businesses off Cape.
2023 – The family agreed to work for John for 2 months during the transition to train and educate him, although many family members have stayed longer.
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