PLEASANT GAP — After a Christmas Eve fire closed its doors, Fasta & Ravioli Co. is reopening its Pleasant Gap location, as well as opening a new Harrisburg location.
While there was no one inside Fasta when the fire broke out shortly after 2 a.m. on Dec. 24, the damage left what the fire department predicted to be three to six months of renovations.
“The fire caused a lot of damage to the front of the house, but the larger implications is the smoke damage,” Fasta owner Bob Ricketts told the Gazette in December. “Virtually everything in the store is covered in smoke.”
With the abatement phase of construction, where contractors remove smoke particles, wrapping up, Ricketts said renovations should stay closer to a three-month timeline.
Fasta will celebrate the grand reopening of its Pleasant Gap store at 157 W. College Ave., and its brand new store in Harrisburg in the Broad Street Market located at 1233 N. 3rd St. on Friday, May 13, with a free pasta day.
Ricketts said that Fasta participated in the Hershey’s Farmers Market located just outside Harrisburg and was well received. He said opening a store in Harrisburg is a logical progression from a growth standpoint.
“This shop will be a conduit for our wholesale in Carlisle, Harrisburg and Hershey,” he said.
Fasta has always had excess capacity so operations should not become strained with the opening of the two stores. With the capacity to make 1,000 to 1,500 pounds of pasta a day, Fasta makes about 100 a day now.
The free pasta day that will inaugurate the opening of both locations, as well as the start of farmers market season, will feature free pasta drawings. But anyone who stops by will get a free pound of agro wheat fettuccini.
“We don’t do much marketing, so this is a way to let our products speak for themselves,” Ricketts said. “We are excited to give away a couple thousand pounds of pasta and get things running to they way they used.”
The store will also use the event as an opportunity to hand out fire prevention awareness materials. The fire in Fasta, which was accidental, was related to an electrical cord plugging into the refrigerator.
“The fire department did a fantastic job. It could have been a lot worse if it weren’t a quick reaction,” Ricketts previously told the Gazette. “They cut a hole in the roof, which stopped the fire from spreading.”
Three days after the fire, Fasta’s sister company, Good Seed Baking Co., announced it would close its doors for Fasta to take its place. Fasta opened in the space, located at 129 S. Fraser St., on Dec. 27.
The downtown State College location will continue to stay open and will also host the free pasta day on May 13.
Ricketts said that Fasta will hire new staff, including an individual to handle the company’s marketing and social media.
“We’ve got a lot of crazy ideas that we are working on,” Ricketts said. “Monthly recipes, YouTube videos, and we’re trying to put together a cookbook.”
