Jenn Grippo didn’t want to make this decision without first talking with her employees.

The co-owner of The Original Oyster House in Market Square in Downtown Pittsburgh with her mom Renee Grippo (known as Mrs. G) held a meeting with their 10 employees and asked for everyone’s input.

The topic: Should they temporarily close for six weeks to give everyone a break?

They had done just that the past two years.

“(The employees) said, we want to if you want to,” Jenn Grippo said. “I told them, ‘We will make this decision together, because it’s a decision that affects all of us.’”

Believed to be the city’s oldest bar and restaurant, the Original Oyster House has been closed since Jan 1. It will reopen Feb. 15, a week before Lent begins, the restaurant’s busiest time of the year.

The original temporary closure in 2021 came as a result of the challenging pandemic in 2020. Grippo knew her employees needed time off. They had worked short staffed. They had to navigate all the rules and regulations for restaurants during covid set forth by Gov. Tom Wolf.

It was a year like no other.

When they were able to have limited in-door dining capacity, they did. Grippo said she was especially excited to be able to celebrate the restaurant’s 150th anniversary in October 2020 with 50% capacity.

JoAnne Klimovich Harrop | Tribune-Review Pittsburgh’s Original Oyster House. Owner Jenn Grippo poses for a picture by the bar as the restauant celebrates 150 years in business in 2020. The bar and restaurant will be closed until Feb. 15, 2023.  

In 2022, the second year they decided to do a similar closure came after a co-worker died in 2021 — not from the coronavirus – but they needed time to grieve, as it had been another stressful year, said Grippo, who added she considers many factors before going through with a closure.

She makes sure her staff is able to financially withstand the time off. They can collect unemployment and there are opportunities to come in and get paid a fair wage by helping with deep cleaning or other tasks such as painting. Employees are responsible for their health insurance, so that is not an issue.

“We all need a break,” Grippo said.

Another business move Grippo made was moving to a four-day work week. She researched the topic and said “Let’s do it.”

She instituted that last year after the break. The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday Friday and noon to 8 p.m. on Saturday.

Grippo said business is still strong and that this schedule works for a majority of the customers.

This also helps them have enough staffing, Mrs. G said.

“I love the employees, and I love the regular customers and meeting new customers dining at the Oyster House for the first time,” Mrs. G said. “They are family.”

That is how Michelle “Shel” Preininger feels. The assistant manager has worked there for almost eight years.

“I love working for Jenn and her mom,” she said. “They feel like a small family. The break is definitely appreciated. I plan to relax, rest and chill. And spend time with family and friends.”

She said they’ve learned to get the work done, even short-handed at times. Grippo understands what restaurants have had to endure the past few years. She spends a good portion of most mornings doing prep work, which includes breading fish daily.

Grippo said there were times she would be so worn down from being in the kitchen all day that it made her look around and evaluate ways to do things better. She said running a food business during a pandemic forced her to slow down.

“You can’t spread yourself too thin,” Grippo said. “Don’t be a servant to this industry. You can burnout in this business very easily. The mental health of employees is so important. They need to be able to live their lives, and they can use this time to do something they might not have been able to do.”

Courtesy of Jonathan Ruggieri of Jeronimo Creative Renee “Mrs. G” Grippo (left) and her daughter Jenn Grippo pose for a picture near a photo of Renee Grippo’s husband and Jenn Grippo’s father, the late Lou Grippo, inside the Original Oyster House in Downtown Pittsburgh for the establishment’s 150th anniversary in October 2020.  

Mrs. G, who has been in the culinary business for four decades, said her late husband Lou, who bought the Oyster House in 1970, had a passion for the restaurant industry.

He died in 2017.

Mr. G said he built a loyal following and that she loves greeting customers who share their stories about dining at the Oyster House — many whose generations of families have dined there.

“The restaurant business is in my blood, and I am here to help Jenn,” Mrs. G said. “The customers have made us. Without dedicated customers, we would not have survived this long.”

Grippo said it’s about the commitment to doing a few things well — from the monster fish sandwich to crab cakes, shrimp and, of course, oysters, and not trying to also be a chicken or burger or pasta restaurant.

January is a perfect time to close because it’s generally a slower period for restaurants.

Preininger said she plans to do some spring cleaning a little early in her home. Some of the employees are planning short vacations. She will also help with some of the deep cleaning.

“So when we come back it will be like a new restaurant, a fresh start,” Preininger said. “For Jenn, her employees come before anyone else, and you know that from her actions. I will miss everyone while we are closed, but I will also enjoy the time off.”

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