Iconic Pittsburgh Ice Cream Shop Klavon's Can't Recruit Workers

PITTSBURGH, PA — Klavon's, the legendary Strip District ice cream parlor, is having difficulty recruiting employees.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” co-owner Jacob Hanchar said.. “It’s an industry-wide thing. By now we should have five or six people hired, and we don’t have one. We usually staff up to 11 to 15 people by summer.”

Hanchar noted that store managers get equity in the company.

“You’ll be owning a piece of the business while you’re here,” he said. “I don’t think there are any other restaurants out there where you can gain some ownership of the company.”

James and Mary Klavon first opened Klavon’s in 1923 as a neighborhood apothecary and ice cream shop. After years of serving the community, the shop closed in 1979 and sat dormant for two decades. When the old drugstore soda fountain was reopened in 1999, the Klavon's eight grandchildren and a cousin teamed up to transform the old pharmacy into a full-service ice cream parlor.