Second Chicco Baccello location a few weeks from opening
Co-owners Lisa Aprea and Jim Martin plan to open a second Chicco Baccello shop in the Arc Building in Canonsburg. Not pictured is co-owner Nancy Ogburn.
Karen Mansfield/ Observer-Reporter
Courtesy of Sara Von Scio
In this file photo from October, Heritage Craft Butchers co-owner Bob Von Scio is shown in the company’s downtown Washington distribution/storage location.
Chicco Baccello is in the latter stages of its northern expansion.
Renovation of a first-floor space continues in the Arc Human Services Building in Canonsburg, where the owners of the popular coffee shop, a Washington staple since 2014, will open a second location.
Lisa Aprea said Tuesday she and her partners, Nancy Ogburn and Jim Martin, anticipate an early to mid-November opening.
“We’ll have the same menu and same concept, but a different look,” Aprea said. “There won’t be exposed brick, but it will look great – modern charm, not old-world charm.”
She added that ownership is hiring.
The existing Chicco Baccello, at 239 S. Main St., actually is more than a coffee shop. It is a bakery and delicatessen as well – and a meeting spot where patrons order from a wide range of sandwiches and coffee drinks, snack on cookies and other desserts and can purchase deli items.
The dining destination will not be the only new ground-floor feature to be added at 111 W. Pike St., onetime home of Brody Furniture. A $600,000 investment on the first floor also will include an art gallery and office space.
The building, which dates to the 1930s, serves as headquarters for Arc, a Washington County-based nonprofit. Arc had planned to not only operate from there, but to turn it into a multiple-use location.
Arc Human Services and The Arc of Washington support people of all ages with intellectual and developmental disabilities and mental illness.
A previous Observer-Reporter story reported Chicco Baccello’s owners spent two years scouting for a second location, until Lisa Scarmazzi, Canonsburg’s director of Economic Development, linked them up with Arc.
Scarmazzi said the shop plans to employ some individuals served by Arc Human Services.
Online orders
Heritage Craft Butchers is now contacting customers by email, and striving to keep the ordering process simple, according to co-owner Bob Von Scio.
The West Bethlehem Township-based business, which specializes in craft meats and charcuterie items, says on its website: “Place an order for products that you’ll pick up at one of our three locations (West Beth, Washington or Waynesburg). Orders must be received by 4 p.m. on Tuesday for pickup during regular business hours Friday and Saturday.
“For items that are not a flat-rate, we have chosen a price point that is on the low-end of average for that particular cut. This ensures that any discrepancies in price fall in the customers’ favor. We will assemble orders and distribute them on Friday morning.”
Heritage Craft Butchers is now taking pre-orders for its Cornucopia Bundle, which costs $300 and will be assembled and ready for pickup on Halloween weekend (Oct 29-31) at a customer’s preferred pickup location.
The bundle features: six apple cider-stuffed pork chops; two chuck roasts; one corned beef; two apple cider-stuffed pork roasts; two cider-marinated pork bellies; two spatchcock chickens; two packages of hot Italian sausage; two packages of sweet Italian sausage; two pounds of bacon; and two Osso Buco-cut beef shanks.
Von Scio and co-owner Jared White cut, cure, prepare and sell meat selections.
Top ranking
First Commonwealth Bank announced it is No. 1 in one significant local category.
The Indiana, Pa.-based bank said in a news release it was the top lender, of dollars lent, in the Pittsburgh Small Business Administration District for the federal fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.
The bank said it assisted more than 40 businesses in Western Pennsylvania. There are 27 counties in the Pittsburgh SBA District.
First Commonwealth said it disbursed $50.9 million in 7(a) loans throughout the Pittsburgh SBA – an increase of nearly 240% from $21.4 million in loans for the previous fiscal year.
CEO Mike Price said in a statement: “This is an area where we are punching well above our weight class, and are so pleased to see the rankings reflect our team’s hard work.”