Monroeville resident Bryan Kiger’s career outlook changed about two decades ago while working as a therapeutic staff support for an elementary student with autism.
Kiger, 48, founded Progress City consulting in 2018, working with small businesses and nonprofits.
But when he discovered the unemployment rate for people with autism was about 85%, he thought back to his days helping that elementary student attend traditional public school classes.
“I’m somebody who sees a problem and wants to try to solve it,” he said. “It was important for me to say ‘OK, if there’s this service gap, how can we get creative about solving it?’ ”
SpectroDolce, a confectionary business that aims to provide widely applicable job skills to people with autism, was the solution.
The sweets store opened along Route 22 in Monroeville in 2019, relocating to the Monroeville Mall and opening a second location in the Westmoreland Mall in 2021. The business stayed in the Hempfield shopping mall for about two or three years, Kiger said.
SpectroDolce returned to the Westmoreland Mall last week, filling the former Main Street Sweets space. The business closed its Monroeville Mall location two days later.
“Since we left Westmoreland Mall a couple of years ago, there’s been a real desire from the community to see us come back,” Kiger said. “And we’re happy to be able to do that.”
Kiger: ‘Softer landing spot’ for 1st-time employees
SpectroDolce’s menu runs the gamut of sweet treats — with items such as ice cream cones, milkshakes, frozen fudge drinks, Dubai chocolate-covered strawberries and Belgian waffles.
For the past two years, the business has been owned and operated by Achieving True Self — a behavioral health organization servicing Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Maryland.
A SpectroDolce pop-up is at Achieving True Self’s Irwin office along Pennsylvania Avenue.
Kiger and his wife, Angie Kiger, proposed a partnership with Achieving True Self in September 2024. Angie worked with Achieving True Self CEO Rick Murray at a previous company and felt the organization would be a perfect fit for SpectroDolce.
The confectionary business assigns job coaches to develop work plans and lead trainings for each of its employees, said Kiger, who now works as a consultant for SpectroDolce.
Its goal is to provide valuable employment skills to people with autism, who may come to the job with minimal work experience.
Though the state’s competitive integrated employment initiative aims to increase available employment opportunities for Pennsylvanians with disabilities, Kiger said those with little job experience under their belts often cannot thrive in a traditional working environment.
“There are a lot of people that have zero work experience and need a softer landing spot to start to gain some of those basic employment skills,” Kiger said. “The current system and how it’s set up doesn’t allow for that to happen in an environment that’s managed by an organization that’s also providing services.”
For example, someone receiving services from the state’s Office of Vocational Rehabilitation through Achieving True Self could not be employed at SpectroDolce. The state would consider this employment a conflict of interest, Murray said.
‘We are investing to create this model’
SpectroDolce aims to provide broadly applicable work skills to its employees to prepare them for success in future jobs, Murray said.
But it also aims to inspire other businesses to adopt a similar support model for employees with autism.
“We are investing to create this model so that individuals with autism and other learning differences are contributing in a positive way — and every way that should matter to a business,” he said. “We want other employers to also be open to and celebrating the idea of employing individuals (with autism) and recognizing their unique talents and the ways they can help improve a business.”
SpectroDolce is on the first floor of Westmoreland Mall, 5256 Route 30. It operates 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.