‘I love feeding people’: Angle family opens second Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop franchise in North Idaho

Jameson Angle, a North Idaho resident, spent many years sitting behind a screen working as one of two employees at an IT consulting business in Spokane before he completely changed careers.

Though Angle did not have any prior experience in the food industry, he was inspired to open a restaurant by his father-in-law, who owns multiple restaurants on the East Coast.

“I love feeding people and food brings people together,” Angle said. “In IT, it’s kind of lonely and not people centric. It was computer centric. And so that was really the transition part for me.”

And so, Angle opened up Capriotti’s in Coeur d’Alene – and now he and his family have opened another in Post Falls.

“I wanted to work with people and feed people and make people happy,” Angle said.

Angle and his wife Amy have always liked having people over to their house and feeding them, and one day they considered that opening a restaurant might be the next move for their family. Amy Angle is in charge of the payroll side of things, spearheading the bookkeeping aspect of running the restaurants.

Initially, they wanted to go with a self-made concept, but they realized that it was going to be too much to take on without any prior background in the restaurant world. They began to look for franchise options and ended up going with Capriotti’s.

Despite being the owner, Angle legitimately enjoys everything on the menu and consistently eats Capriotti’s sandwiches. He says his favorite sandwich changes every month. His current favorite is the wagyu club, which has wagyu roast beef, pulled turkey and bacon.

Angle says what sets Capriotti’s apart from similar sandwich franchises is the quality and freshness of their ingredients.

“Ours is more the quality option,” Angle said. “I call us the bougie sandwich shop. Whenever somebody sees someone show up with a Capriotti’s bag for lunch, they’re like, ‘Oh, you got the good stuff.’ We’re that next level sandwich.”

Though there are thousands of different companies to consider when looking to open stores within a franchise, Capriotti’s stood out to the Angles right away.

“I think it was because we found a brand that we could align ourselves with,” Angle said. “You know, everybody I’ve worked with at Capriotti’s has been super helpful and friendly. We take pride in what we do. It just made it feel like we were part of the family, so it was really an easy transition.”

Shortly after making this decision, they settled on a location on Appleway Avenue in Coeur d’Alene. This May, the Angles opened their second Capriotti’s location, this time near Stateline in Post Falls on South Beck Road. Angle says the customers at the Coeur d’Alene location are typically locals, but they have a variety of customers at the new location.

“I love that we’re right at Stateline,” Angle said. “We got all the travelers coming over from Washington. Everybody stops at Stateline to grab gas. And, you know, why not grab a bite to eat on your way through?”

There are more than 175 Capriotti’s locations nationwide, but no Capriotti’s in neighboring Washington state.

For the Post Falls location, it took less than a year to open after identifying the site in June 2024. The official opening was May 20. Angle said the community response surrounding the Post Falls location has been positive.

“We’re really fortunate and blessed to see this positive response and people recognizing that, you know, there’s an option out at Stateline now,” Angle said.

There are 33 employees split between the two restaurants. Angle often bounces between the two locations throughout the average day.

“I have to learn to trust my crew and know that they’re going to do the best job they can do,” Angle said. “It’s just knowing that they’re going to do everything they can to make sure that customers get the service they deserve because I trust them.”

Angle said the experience of owning the Coeur d’Alene location prepared him for the process of opening another Capriotti’s.

“You don’t know what you don’t know, right? Until you go through it one time, you really have no understanding of what the process is,” Angle said. “Just going through it once helped a lot with being prepared and kind of addressing problems before they happen.”

Angle describes Post Falls, specifically Stateline, as an “up-and-coming” area that people are just now starting to discover.

“Our goal first and foremost is to make sure that Post Falls is a success before we move on to another store,” Angle said. “That being said, if everything works out, we’d love to open a third location, probably in Hayden or a little farther north.”