Renowned Periwinkle's Bakery & Café returns after 15 years

All it took was one bite of a fresh maple-cinnamon roll for a patron to know he was in the right place.

Periwinkle’s Bakery & Café, a descendant of the iconic Harmar bakery Periwinkle’s, has finally opened the doors at its new location in O’Hara along Route 28, at Exit 10. Its first day of business was July 29.

The shop is on 2.8 acres that once was the home of a Max & Erma’s. After it closed, the building sat empty for five years.

The new Periwinkle’s is a resurrection of a beloved family bakery that started in Verona in the 1930s and then became a staple of the business corridor in Harmar. It closed in 2007 after the death of owner Billy “Kay” Kratsa Sr., founder of the real estate company Kratsa Properties.

The business is building on its reputation for making fresh baked goods. There are plenty of sweets, including doughnuts, rolls, cookies and brownies, as well as breads and pizza fresh from the oven.

A prepared-food section features premade salads and sandwiches.

Eventually, there will be a casual sit-down restaurant as well as a bar.

“We’re pretty excited to open our doors back up after almost 15 years of being closed,” said manager Kelly DiNatale, who is one of Kratsa’s granddaughters. “It’s really nice to see the people coming in that used to shop at Periwinkle’s.”

DiNatale’s father, Bill Kratsa Jr., entered the family business, whose properties included the SpringHill suites on the North Shore, BladeRunners in Harmar and the Fox Chapel housing plan Forest Highlands, among others. Now he owns Periwinkle’s and employs all four of his children, including Billy III, Steven, Kelly and her sister, Dana.

“I did it for them, and it makes me feel good to see them all working together,” Kratsa said. “My kids are all involved, and they’re all happy. It brings back memories. They’ve got all my father’s recipes, and we’re baking everything from scratch. We don’t buy anything.”

DiNatale said that includes making fresh dough.

“We make our own Danish dough, our own puff pastry dough. We make our own pizza dough. We make all of our bread, all of our cookies. Everything we have here, we make from scratch,” she said.

Periwinkle’s also is making its famous “Peri Rolls,” rolled up pepperoni rolls, roast beef rolls and Buffalo chicken rolls.

Kratsa was instrumental in the layout of the restaurant, and his cousin, Michael Kratsas, led the development and startup for the new restaurant, drawing on his decade of experience as a developer for Primanti Bros. restaurants.

“I grew up in a retail business so all that came into play. We blew out the side of the building and installed garage doors with windows,” he said. “They’ll roll up in the summer, and you hit a button and a full screen will come down to keep the insects out.”

Seating capacity is roughly 200 people.

Periwinkle’s is open from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. It’s closed Sundays.

Like many restaurants dealing with post-pandemic challenges, Periwinkle’s has a worker shortage and plans to expand hours after it’s able to hire more employees.