Customers will be making fewer trips to and from their cars when Stella’s Beer Barn reopens Sunday in New Kensington.
Stella’s will be operating with a distributor license, which removes quantity limits that had been in place when it operated under a restaurant license that had been shared with the eatery of the same name above it.
That means instead of customers having to buy multiple 12-packs in separate transactions, they’ll be able to buy as many as they want at one time. The distributor license also allows Stella’s to sell cases and kegs.
Stella’s Beer Barn has been closed for nearly a year. It’s reopening under a new owner, Jamie Moses, and manager, Marissa Mazzotta. Moses and Mazzotta are the daughters of Stacey Mazzotta who, with her husband, A.J., opened the restaurant in 2002 followed by the beer barn in 2003.
The restaurant closed in April 2020 and has since been replaced by Jillian’s. Its owners, Philip Call and Jillian Ludwiczak, bought the restaurant liquor license from Stacey Mazzotta.
Jillian’s will be selling food outside Stella’s Beer Barn for Sunday’s reopening. There also will be live music.
Originally, Stacey Mazzotta, 67, of Lower Burrell planned to reopen the beer barn in the building, which she still owns.
“But circumstances change and things change and people get older. We felt this was the best way to go,” she said. “I feel great about it. Jamie’s very capable. She’s been in the business most of her life. It made the most sense to me.”
Moses started working in the restaurant when she was in high school. She was a waitress and bartender before becoming its general manager.
While Stella’s carries the name of her grandmother, who handmade its pasta, Moses is thinking of her father as she takes the reins at Stella’s.
A.J. Mazzotta, who died at 47 from injuries in a car crash in 2005, ran multiple businesses in the community, including A.J. Auto Body and, later, MazCar Collision Center.
“When he opened the beer barn giving it the name, he had a vision that our family would carry that legacy on,” Moses said. “When my mom decided to sell Stella’s Restaurant, we knew that would mean the liquor license would likely need to go with it. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to carry on my dad’s legacy as a small-business owner in the community he loved.”
Moses, 39, and her husband, Joshua, live in Allegheny Township with their three sons. She works as a business risk specialist for a financial institution.
While they have put in a lot of work preparing Stella’s to reopen, Moses said it looks exactly the same. They’ll be selling beer, slushies, malt beverages, snacks, pop and ice.
Moses is counting on the return of a loyal customer base as she ventures into an increasingly competitive field.
“We know them. We talk to them. You’re not just coming up to a counter, buying a beer and leaving, like Sheetz,” she said. “We have a relationship with the community. That’s the great thing about New Kensington. We support small businesses across the board. That’s a niche we have as an edge over Sheetz or Giant Eagle. It’s hard to compete with them when it comes to prices. We try to stay as competitive as we can.”
Running the restaurant and the beer barn at the same time was stressful, Stacey Mazzotta said.
“Jamie doesn’t have that worry,” she said. “I think this is going to be way easier.”
Stacey Mazzotta is excited to see her daughter take over the business.
“Hopefully, it grows and expands,” she said.
