PHOTO COURTESY OF ARTHUR’S KORNER PUB

Galley Group, Pittsburgh-based food hall development and management company, is launching a new venture, but grub isn’t the main focus. 

After a two-year search for the perfect spot, they will reopen The Korner Pub, an 80-year-old Mt. Lebanon landmark that closed in 2022, as Arthur’s Korner Pub. Former co-owner Brandon Smith announced this week that he’s closing Fuel and Fuddle in Oakland after a 27-year run. 

“It gives us that small-town bar vibe,” CEO Chad Ellingboe says. “We want to carry on the legacy of The Korner Pub. It’s changed, but it hasn’t changed a lot.”

Regulars and new customers can expect to be sipping a cold beer at the revamped watering hole at 4 Bower Hill Road this summer. The vintage back bar remains, but fixtures have been updated and the walls have been given a new color scheme.

Arthur’s will have 10 craft beer taps, a large canned beer selection with to-go options. For the first time in its history, the 1,500-square-foot pub will serve liquor and wine. There’s no kitchen, so the food will be limited to locally sourced frozen pizza, fresh popcorn and prepackaged snacks.

The space has seating for about 50 patrons, a pool table, dart boards and TVs.  

So, who’s Arthur?

The pub is named after District Manager Alex DeConciliis’s dad, whose advice, he believes, helped Galley Group grow. Founded in 2015, the restaurant incubator gives aspiring chefs the opportunity to execute their culinary concept with minimal upfront costs, maximum brand exposure and dedicated ongoing support. 

Locations include Federal Galley at Nova Place on the North Side, Galley Bakery Square in Larimer and North Loop Galley in Minneapolis. The brand’s fourth location is set to open in Newport, Kentucky (across the Ohio River from Cincinnati) this summer. Each food hall is open Tuesday through Sunday, has four distinct restaurant concepts, full-service bars and communal seating.

FEDERAL GALLEY ON THE NORTH SIDE. PHOTO BY LAURA PETRILLA.

Veterans of the accelerator include Iron Born Pizza and Sultry F&B, a South Side eatery that’s one of Pittsburgh Magazine’s Best New Restaurants of 2022.

Galley Group regularly searches social media for budding restaurateurs, but they didn’t have to look far to find the next occupant of Galley Bakery Square.

Ashley McCoy, longtime general manager of Bubba’s, which is leaving the Larimer food hall, will debut Revival PGH on May 23. Customers can expect made-to-order salads, crepes and smash burgers with a focus on French and American flavors.

Ellingboe hopes more culinary dreamers will fill out an application for a spot at one of Galley Group’s kitchens. The company takes care of maintenance, all front-of-the-house operations, utilities, licensing fees for various point-of-sale systems, bussers and dishwashers. The average accelerator stay is two years.