A Pittsburgh-based restaurant with a State College location has been crowned the “Coolest Thing Made in PA,” and to celebrate it’s giving out free booze on Wednesday.
Primanti Bros, which has a location at 130 Hiester Street in State College, was the winner of the inaugural Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry tournament. Votes were cast on Twitter in the five-round tournament that began in mid-March and featured 32 iconic Keystone State products.
The 90-year-old chain’s famed sandwiches topped with cole slaw and fries defeated Schuylkill County’s Mrs. T’s Pierogies in the championship round on Monday. More than 32,000 votes were tallied to determine the final winner, with Primanti Bros. securing the title with 53% of the total vote.
According to a Chamber news release, Primanti Bros. is celebrating by offering free bottles of domestic beer (one per customer 21 and older) on Wednesday at all of its Pennsylvania locations. The State College location is participating, but will be giving out White Claw hard seltzers, a manager told StateCollege.com
“We’ve known that Primanti Bros. was the Coolest Thing in PA since 1933 – but we’re glad everyone else knows, too,” Primanti Bros. CEO Adam Golomb said in a statement. “While it’s an honor to be recognized as a champion, it’s even more remarkable to consider all of the iconic brands, businesses and stories that were born of our commonwealth. Pennsylvania is full of cool things – and we’re excited to be counted among them.”
Competing companies and products ranged from Troeg’s Nugget Nectar and Yuengling Lager to Crayola Crayons and Martin Guitars. Among other businesses with Centre County storefronts, Sheetz’s MTO and Rutter’s Iced Tea were also in the running.
“Hats off to the Primanti Bros. – not only for the brilliant and hilarious social media posts they entertained us with throughout the contest – but for being crowned by Pennsylvania voters as the ‘Coolest Thing Made in PA’,” PA Chamber President and CEO Luke Bernstein said. “This contest showcased what makes our state great by highlighting products made and manufactured in our commonwealth – and the public’s response has blown us away. These last three weeks have left no doubt that Pennsylvanians are passionate about their homegrown products. While this was the first ‘Coolest Thing’ contest we’ve run, we’re just getting started!”
At the start of the final round Primanti Bros.’ Twitter account joked, “Listen. We were shoving potatoes in between carbs for nearly 20 years before Mrs. T’s started thinking about it. So vote for Primanti Bros. Do the right thing.”
Mrs. T’s took the loss with good humor.
“We lost much more productivity following this tournament than we did with the NCAA tournament,” Tom Twardzik, owner of Mrs. T’s parent company Ateeco, Inc., said. “We congratulate Primanti Bros. on their win in the Pennsylvania Chamber ‘Coolest Thing Made in PA’ Tournament. It was a close win with our #PierogySquad showing up and voting for us round after round – we are so thankful for all the pierogy love.”
Competing companies in the tournament included:
Meta The Metaverse
Mrs. T’s Pierogies
Harley Davidson Motorcycles
PA-Made Steel: ATI, Cleveland Cliffs, Ellwood Group, U.S. Steel
Zippo Lighters
Asher’s Chocolate Pretzels
Troegs Nugget Nectar
Pixelle Microwaveable Bags
Yuengling Lager
Wabtec Locomotives
PPG Paints and Coatings
UTZ Potato Chips
Rock Lititz Super Bowl Stage
Musselman’s Applesauce
Coherent Lasers
Aurora Self-Driving Cars
Dalessandro’s Cheese Steaks
Pampers Baby Diapers
Rutter’s Iced Tea
Martin & Co. Guitars
York Barbell
Primanti Brothers Sandwich
Crayola Crayons
Seltzer’s Lebanon Bologna
Hershey’s Kisses
Lockheed Martin Spacecraft
Martin’s Potato Rolls
Channellock Pliers
Sheetz MTO
Astrobotic Lunar Robots
Eat’n Park Smiley Cookies
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