Pittsburgh Spotlight: Truss Brewery

A brand-new brewery has opened up in Pleasant Hills, and its individuality has helped it soar through these complex conditions. Before the pandemic, Mark Larimer was on the verge of signing a lease for a 150-seat, full-service system that fell through right before the virus lockdowns began.

"It would've destroyed my family and my life. The fact that it didn't happen was like a blessing in disguise."

After Larimer's business partner backed away from the project, he chose the tiny, 1,010 square foot space at 42 Old Clairton Road to be his next destination.

What did you do before opening Truss, and why did you choose to step away to begin your own business instead?

I had spent almost 30 years in Corporate America in the foods and retail side of it. I got far away from where the rubber hits the road, and it became more about checks-and-balances and politics. As much as the organizations want to emphasize customer service and quality of the product – there is so much between the guest and me; it just became numbing. To do something became 'you can't do this because of that.' The inordinate amount of paperwork, meetings about the meetings that happened all while Niagara Falls is running - there's such a disconnect to what's essential. Food is hard to force into a format, and that's what it felt like they were trying to do.

After my business partner backing out, I wanted to find a little boutique and stay open a couple of days to see if we can get a following. And I believe we can do that. We don't have to make a million things, but whatever we do – we have to do it pretty damn good, and I feel like we're doing that.

We love this neighborhood. We love what we're doing, and I love the people—handling the food and just being able to talk. It's nice to meet people and not worry about silly numbers and all that.

We can't do anything without people. If we don't lose sight of that, I think we can do whatever we want to. I always put my team above me and then the customers above everyone, and I think that's a logical approach.

What were/still are the advantages and disadvantages of opening and running a business in the middle of COVID-19?

One disadvantage would be that there's still a percentage of people that don't want to go into public and be around other people. Also, the way it's affected people financially, they're a little less quick to draw on those impulse buys.

When we did our soft opening on the eleventh and twelfth of December, they called for a shutdown order just a few days prior. We didn't know that every food option around us wasn't going to open its doors on that Friday, but we were. There were people lined up along the sidewalk with their growlers. It was great and maybe not the safest, but I had to call people I haven't talked to in a while and ask them to '-please come chop lettuce.'

The other thing is that this place was designed, before the pandemic, to be take-out only. I didn't want to have a wait staff, 6-10 cooks in the kitchen, busboys, dish machines, and all that. It's always been about people coming in on your way home, grabbing something, putting their feet up, and having us take care of them.

Gain access to the rest of this article & our collection of virtual magazines by becoming a member.