Glen’s Frozen Custard demolishes old Clementine’s restaurant for new production facility

The owner of Glen’s Frozen Custard demolished the former Clementine’s Family Restaurant building at 2604 Leechburg Road in Lower Burrell last week to make way for a new production facility.

Glen’s, with stores in Lower Burrell and Springdale, bought the old restaurant this year to build a 10,000-square-foot facility to make more of its frozen custard and baked goods.

In addition to offering sweet treats at Glen’s two locations, the small business is churning out mint chocolate chip and other flavored frozen custards to retail stores such as Community Market, Giant Eagle, Shop ’n Save and some local restaurants.

“We’ve basically run out of space,” said Eli Wilson, president of Glen’s and a fourth-generation owner.

“If I wanted to make a custard-filled doughnut, I can’t,” he said. “That extra space will allow us to come out with new products.”

Glen’s first opened in 1948 in Cheswick and moved to Springdale in 1959. The Lower Burrell location opened in 2010, and was expanded in 2016 to include a small restaurant, GC Grill.

“We want all of our production under one roof to make everything simpler and more efficient,” Wilson said.

In addition to the two stores, Glen’s uses a small warehouse.

The Lower Burrell and Springdale stores will continue operations.

Wilson chose to locate the new facility in Lower Burrell because of its proximity to his stores and because it was the right size — 2 acres.

“It’s great to see a local business thriving and expanding their operations,” Lower Burrell Councilman Chris Fabry said. “I’m thrilled that they want to continue growing in our city.”

The restaurant was vacant for about a dozen years, Fabry said.

“It will be great to watch the development take place and become another point of pride for Lower Burrell,” he said.

Wilson decided to demolish the old restaurant because the basement walls were buckling.

He and his cousin Wade Bursic own an excavation company and are doing the demolition work.

Wilson expects all of the excavation should be complete in the next few weeks. They will prep the site over the winter and start construction on the new building in the spring.

The new facility could be up and running by summer.

In addition to consolidating operations, Wilson said he wants the new facility to produce more baked goods and to, someday, be open for the public to shop.