Pamela's Diner chain old-school: Cash only, closed by 4

Pam Cohen and Gail Klingensmith recall having to dish out a little education with their pancakes and omelets when they opened Pamela's P&G Diner in Squirrel Hill 35 years ago.

“Where is your husband?” Cohen, 65, said male food salesmen would ask when the women turned down their pitches for business.

Today, the popular Pittsburgh chain of diners supports other women seeking business opportunities, said Klingensmith, 61.

“There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women,” she said, quoting former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

The diners are a Pittsburgh fixture, drawing celebrities such as presidential candidates. The six locations offer comfort food in a casual atmosphere. Photos of Pittsburgh places, people and things cover the walls. Pancakes are the most-ordered item — the diners make 650,000 of them annually, Cohen said.

These diners are old-school: cash only, and closed by 4 p.m. daily.

“It's easy here. It's simple,” said Marcia Warren, 55, of Mt. Lebanon, who ate a spinach omelet with potatoes and coffee while dining recently with a friend at the Strip District location.

‘It's really like a ballet'

Cohen and Klingensmith did not plan to become restaurateurs. In 1980, Klingensmith was utilizing her education degree from Edinboro University as a reading specialist in Greenburg Salem School District. Cohen, who has an education degree from the University of Pittsburgh, was a fill-in manager of her father's Papa Joe's restaurants in the South Side, Squirrel Hill and Oakland.

Cohen and Klingensmith, who became friends through a golf group, love breakfast. They mortgaged a house they shared to buy the Papa Joe's location on Forbes Avenue and start their own restaurant.

With a friend, Denise Lamar, they did all the jobs in the diner; they had no money to hire staff.

Cohen cooked, using her mother's recipe for home fries and developing other recipes through trial and error. Klingensmith worked at the restaurant but continued working full time at the school district to bring in money until 1984.

Though Cohen knew the basics of managing food costs, payroll and quality control, cooking in a fast-paced diner gave her a new appreciation for the work.

“It's really like a ballet to watch a good short-order cook,” Klingensmith said.

By the time they opened their third diner in Oakland in 1986, the two needed a break from each other and decided to no longer live together. Klingensmith lives in the North Hills; Cohen, in Oakland.

They relocated their original diner to a larger space on Murray Avenue in 2011.

Longtime employees have helped them build a successful business, they said, and they try to treat them respectfully.

“We don't ask people to do anything that we wouldn't do,” Cohen said.

The women won't reveal their sales numbers. But their diners are among a growing restaurant segment of independent eateries that do most of their business in the mornings, said one industry expert. That segment grew 3.1 percent in the past year, compared to fast-food growth of 2.8 percent, said Lauren Hallow, a restaurant concepts expert at Technomic in Chicago.

Sidewalks mandatory

Cohen and Klingensmith chose to expand in Pittsburgh's older, established neighborhoods.

“We always say we are looking for a place that has a sidewalk,” Cohen said.

They believe in promoting from within, which is helping them transition away from ownership of Pamela's.

Michelle Mazzella and Tim Blosat, who started as servers in the 1980s, bought the Pamela's Diner in Oakland about five years ago. Cohen's sister, Jennifer Cohen, bought the Millvale location, called Lincoln P&G, several years ago.

Michelle Mika, a former server, has owned 25 percent of the diners in Mt. Lebanon and the Strip District since 2014.

Eventually, the women hope to sell their four diners to Mika, 41, who dreams of expanding the business.

“I've been working alongside all of the employees for so many years now — and I still do on a daily basis — I feel like I'm just a part of the team,” Mika said.

Tory N. Parrish is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach her at tparrish@tribweb.com or 412-380-5662.