Another craft brewer has opened a tap room in Greensburg, the fifth to be selling its own beer within a mile of the Westmoreland County Courthouse. Jeremy and Jennifer Shearer opened their Stone Bridge Brewing Co. tap room at 239 E. Pittsburgh St. this week.
Several state and local politicians have voiced their support for the workers.
PITTSBURGH — A group of baristas at a Pittsburgh-area coffee chain claim the company fired a worker after the group publicly announced its intent to form a union.
Several Coffee Tree baristas outlined their desire to form a union in videos posted online. A day later, Liam Tinker said he was let go.
Raising Cane’s, the popular fast-food chain known for its chicken tenders, Texas toast and special Cane sauce, could be coming to the Pittsburgh area.
Dustin Shearer, the vice president of company restaurants for Raising Cane’s, said they don’t know exactly where the restaurant may settle, but it will bring more than 200 jobs with it.
He said the company will also put 10% of its proceeds back into the community. The Johnstown native is hoping to make Pittsburghers “Caniacs.”
He said beginning next year, 20 restaurants will open in Pennsylvania, starting with one in Philadelphia.
The Raising Cane’s in the Pittsburgh area could open by the end of 2023.
“We do one thing. We are very focused,” Shearer said. “We say we do one thing, and we do it better than everybody else. We serve quality chicken meals — fast, friendly, clean — and we have fun doing it.”
It’s not just food establishments that are having a tough time finding employees. Help wanted signs are posted outside of all kinds of businesses in the Pittsburgh region.
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Many businesses in the Pittsburgh region are still struggling to keep their doors open because of a lack of employees.
Restaurants in the Pittsburgh region are bouncing back from the COVID-19 pandemic closures, but many aren’t getting enough applications for their job openings.
Thirsty folks from American Craft Beer, a website dedicated to national brew news, recently paid a visit to our fair city to soak up the hoppy culture and its liquid assets. Not, surprisingly, they were impressed.
The Washington, D.C.-based bloggers had this to say:
“Pittsburgh turned out to be more interesting, more vibrant and more fun than we ever expected, and its beer scene, which is pretty amazing, was only part of the ride. Any great beer destination starts with a combination of things, the city, its people, character and vibe … and, of course, its beer. And as it turns out, Pittsburgh has all of those things in spades.”
The sun set in late May on the long restaurant careers of Robert and Anna Jo Noviello, owners of a popular Greensburg restaurant that had been in the family for three generations. The Noviellos sold the Sunset Cafe at South Urania Avenue and Laird Street to Ronald and Angela Mellinger
The Noviellos sold the Sunset Cafe at South Urania Avenue and Laird Street to Ronald and Angela Mellinger of Greensburg for $600,000.
Robert “Bob” Noviello said they wanted to sell so they could retire, which they have since done by moving to Port St. Lucie, Fla.
“We worked it for many years. (Anna Jo) was the backbone of the business. We had a great run,” Noviello said.
Noviello said he and his wife owned the restaurant since 1986, when he purchased it from his brother, Gerry Noviello.
“We dearly miss our customers and employees,” Anna Jo Noviello said. There were cooks, bartenders and servers who had worked at the restaurant for more than 20 years, she said.
She was proud the employees remained with the restaurant, despite the pandemic-related shutdown and the restrictions that limited them to offering takeout meals.
“This past year was the most trying year in the business,” Anna Jo Noviello said.
PITTSBURGH — Pennsylvania State Police Liquor Control Enforcement agents raided a Strip District restaurant on Friday, saying the location was illegally selling alcohol without a liquor license.
The search warrant was executed on Savoy Sports Bar, on Penn Avenue in the Strip District after numerous complaints that the location was operating without a valid liquor license.
Undercover agents confirmed those illegal liquor sales, police said, and approximately 12.2 gallons of malt or brewed beverages and about 277 liters of liquor were seized. A state trooper and a liquor enforcement officer entered the club undercover and were told by a bartender that their $20 cover charge covered their drinks.
PITTSBURGH — A South Side club was shut down after a raid by the Pennsylvania State Police on Saturday.
According to police, after numerous complaints about the illegal sale of alcohol at the Boom Boom Room, located in the 1700 block of East Carson Street, police conducted undercover visits and witnessed alleged illegal liquor sales.
The club was raided on Saturday shortly after 2 a.m., and troopers seized approximately 5.16 gallons of malt or brewed beverages and approximately 22.35 liters of liquor.
It was their commitment to food, cocktails and Pittsburgh jazz that got Shadyside’s Con Alma named to Esquire magazine’s 2021 Best Bars in America last week, and they’ll draw strongly from the philosophy of the latter as they navigate ever closer toward a post-pandemic existence.
“Jazz is a music of improvisation,” co-owner and music director John Shannon said. “One of the ways we’ve been able to survive is through this improvised hustle. Week to week, we are just improvising.”
As of midnight, restaurants are officially permitted to operate statewide at 100% capacity, the first time since COVID-19 restrictions were implemented in March 2020.
Oliver’s will operate with limited hours and a limited menu for now. Current hours are 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
Owners Roy and Natalie Bodnar are looking to hire about five more people.
“Right now, with our new staff and our limited staff, we’re trying to find the best way to get back into the swing by limiting the menu to our most popular items, until we get comfortable cooking them and then we can, hopefully, bring back our full menu and full hours of operation,” Roy Bodnar said.
Customer favorites like the Pittsburgh-style chicken salad, nachos and full burger lineup are available. They’ll have a limited number of draft beers available, focusing more on bottled beers until they feel customers are comfortable drinking from glasses again.
“Once we get back to our full hours, we’re happily going back to our old menu,” Natalie Bodnar said. “Maybe we’ll keep some old items and add some new. Since we have some new chefs with us, we’d like to give them some opportunity to be creative.”
Oliver’s closed on March 16, 2020. The Bodnars hoped to reopen on May 19, the anniversary of the restaurant opening in 2011, but needed a little more time to get ready.
They also own Robokyo Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi in Greensburg and Wexford, which remained open for takeout throughout the pandemic.
It wasn’t financially feasible to operate Oliver’s under pandemic restrictions, Roy Bodnar said.