The dining room is still a maze of unassembled furniture and the deck is on the back burner, but for the first time since September 2024, the ovens are hot at Ianni’s Pizzeria in Delmont.
“We’re so happy to be back!” employee Sarah Barral, 46, of Delmont, said as she recently spoke with a customer. For Barral, who has worked at the eatery since 2011, being back at the small shop on Freeport Street wasn’t a sure thing a year ago.
The Delmont location was almost completely destroyed in the 2024 fire. Restaurant fires have taken a toll on several longtime establishments in the region over the past few years.
The Spaghetti & Steak House on Route 22 in Murrysville was destroyed by arson in 2021. Earlier this year, a fire forced the closure of Ruthie’s Diner in Ligonier Township. Fox’s Tavern in South Connellsville is believed to be a total loss following a March 26 fire.
When a disaster like that strikes, customers mourn the loss of a local eatery. But the fires also disrupt the lives of close-knit restaurant staffs that often become family.
“Not to sound cliché, but we love our employees,” Ianni’s owner Wes Harris said. “I like being around everyone who we work with.”
Ianni’s manager Alyssa Pollak, 26, of Irwin, agreed.
“It’s a very ‘homey’ feeling here,” Pollak said. “I’ve developed that relationship with the staff, and also with customers. You see the same people showing up and you start to get to know them.”
The same feeling prompted family, friends and patrons of Ruthie’s Diner to show up en masse for a Feb. 21 pancake-breakfast fundraiser at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Ligonier.
“The people in this church are capable,” said church volunteer Kathy Brown of Ligonier. “Within three days after the fire, we’d gotten together and decided this was something we wanted to do.”
The breakfast raised more than $10,000 for employees who lost their jobs. Restaurant workers who lose their jobs because of a fire that closes a business are eligible for unemployment compensation based on their total reported income, including tips, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.
After the fire
Once the flames are extinguished, a local restaurant owner has hard decisions to make: Do they pursue an insurance claim and try to rebuild? If they do, what will their staff do in the interim? Is it financially feasible to bring a business back after a devastating event?
When the Spaghetti & Steak House burned in May 2021, owner Monica Meehan of Salem didn’t think anything would be left. Photographs and news coverage showed a massive blaze that required eight fire companies to extinguish.
She was shocked to find that a butcher’s block — in the restaurant since at least the early 1960s when her uncle owned the business — was still intact. With the help of the nearby Export Makerspace, she had it restored; it is now in her youngest daughter’s home.
As for the restaurant, Meehan made the difficult decision not to rebuild. A staff of about 15 was left without a job, although many were part-time employees with other positions, Meehan said. For years, an empty parking lot has stood with a concrete square where the restaurant used to be.
“The first few months afterward, we got together with the staff a lot, just grieving and talking about things,” Meehan said. “For the first year, I wasn’t positive what I was going to do in terms of rebuilding. But as time went on, I knew it wouldn’t work. There was just too much involved.”
After a 2022 fire at the former Beermuda in New Kensington, owner Jenn Toney worked to retain her entire staff during a roughly eight-month closure before reopening as Ash Taphouse — a literal reference to the fire — in July 2023.
“She did keep everyone afloat and they all had jobs when we reopened,” said Tara Salem, who handles social media for Ash. “Everything took twice as long to get done after covid — going through the insurance inspections, rebuilding. It was a long process.”
At Ianni’s, Harris and his wife had a lifeline in the form of their other locations in Vandergrift, New Derry and Johnstown.
“It was an advantage in the fact that we could keep our employees from leaving,” Harris said. “All of our best people didn’t have to go out and find another job. Don’t get me wrong, this past year has been one of the hardest and most stressful ever and at times it’s been a nightmare. But being able to retain the people we had was a big positive.”
Barral said Harris made his intentions known quickly.
“It was heartbreaking, seeing the pictures, but they were very upfront about the fact that they were going to rebuild and reopen,” Barral said. “I live two minutes up the road. And they’re like family.”
Moving forward
A few days after Ianni’s reopened in Delmont, the kitchen was fully in motion for takeout service, even as furniture boxes lined the walls. Empty light sockets hung from the ceiling where they will eventually illuminate a small dining area.
Pollak and Barral spent the afternoon training a new employee on the register. Pollak said their first night back was a joy, if a bit chaotic.
“It was insane,” she said. “The phone was ringing off the hook, nonstop. We implemented a system, assigning time slots as people would place orders, because it was getting so busy.”
Even as longtime customers get their Ianni’s fix and business settles into a manageable pace, Pollak said they plan to keep the time-slotting system in place.
As they continued rebuilding, Harris took advantage of kitchen updates, removing an unnecessary door and replacing tables in the food-prep area. They were able to retain their antique wood cooler, an feature recognizable to patrons.
Other additions, like a dishwasher and renovations to the outdoor deck, are on the back burner. Harris said it will take time to find sound financial footing in an industry where profit margins are thin.
“Eventually when we have the income, we’re going to put in some fryers and other things,” Harris said. “We’re still battling with the insurance companies. We had to take out a personal loan just to get back open. We’re pretty much in dire straits right now, trying to do this.”