Galley Bakery Square will soon be under new management and have a new name.
The new operator, Shaka Restaurant Group, expects to complete the transition within 60 days, and will rename the space City Kitchen at Bakery Square.
“We are sad to be leaving Bakery Square, but thankful to the owners for allowing us to contribute to a quality food and entertainment hub for the local and surrounding community,” Galley Group CEO Chad Ellingboe says.
He adds that the company will continue to operate its other Pittsburgh-area food hall, Federal Galley on the North Side, and is “moving forward and continue to work through the permitting process to get the interior updates started,” on its overhaul of The Korner Pub in Mt. Lebanon, which closed last March after 80 years in business.
Galley Group, owned by New York-based Feenix Venture Partners, opened Galley Bakery Square in 2021.
Chef Ashley McCoy of Revival, one of Galley Bakery Square’s current restaurants that is not continuing in the space after the transition, will become a manager at Federal Galley, Ellingboe says.
Hoa “Summer” Le is CEO of the recently-formed Shaka Restaurant Group and operates Somi and Elevate, two of the kitchens housed at Galley Bakery Square. Both of those restaurants will continue to operate in the food hall’s new iteration.
“As a Vietnamese immigrant with a passion for bold flavors and scratch cooking from local growers, I am overjoyed with this opportunity,” Le says.
Gregg Perelman, CEO of Walnut Capital, which owns the Bakery Square property, thanked Galley Group for its time in the space and said in a statement that the company was “thrilled” to be working with Le.
Le’s Shaka restaurant is housed at Federal Galley and still appears on the Federal Galley website as one of its current kitchen concepts.
The rotating kitchen model will continue at City Kitchen, which also will introduce an employee development program, providing mentorship and training, as well as personalized career development plans, according to a statement from Walnut Capital and Shaka Restaurant Group. Chefs in the program will be able to pitch new concepts as they progress through the program.
“The real challenge with the restaurant industry is in building a dedicated and well-trained workforce,” Le says.
“What we will have at City Kitchen is a culinary training and advancement program so that a dishwasher could spin off a career as a line chef or restaurant manager, and possibly a restaurateur.”
