What does it take for a restaurant to stay put? On Route 8 in Penn Township, Reichhold's Cafe found out in April. The owners tried to buy the building at 772 Pittsburgh Road, couldn't reach an agreement, and closed when the lease ran out on April 30.
The family took the answer to Saxonburg. In early July they announced they had bought the former Zacherl's building at 180 Butler Street, a corner that had sat closed for several years after nearly six decades under one family. The new address solves the problem that ended the cafe on Route 8. And one of Saxonburg's best-known dining rooms is back in the hands of owners who run it themselves.
A lease ran out on Route 8
The Butler Eagle reported on April 14 that Route 8 would be "losing a staple breakfast spot at the end of the month." Citing the cafe's Facebook page, the paper said the owners had tried to buy the building to save the business, "but a mutual agreement was not able to be reached." The lease ended April 30, and the cafe closed that day.
The goodbye post the Eagle quoted thanked both the staff and the regulars: "We have truly been blessed by all the wonderful people this business enabled us to meet and build a relationship with. We will miss you all!"
That is how renting usually ends for a small restaurant. The menu and the regulars can be in good shape and the business still has to leave if the lease and the landlord's plans don't line up. Reichhold's says so itself. It wanted to own its building and couldn't, so it had to close.
The building Saxonburg already knew
Two months later, the family had a building it could own. The one it bought comes with a long history.
Edward Zacherl started Zacherl's Tavern & Restaurant at 180 Butler Street with his brother Leroy, and the Eagle dates the purchase of the restaurant to 1965. Edward and his wife, Eileen, owned the tavern for 57 years. When the Butler Eagle remembered Edward Zacherl Sr. in May 2024, the paper said the restaurant had closed "two years ago." It called him "a local fixture and familiar name" to Saxonburg and to regulars "who traveled from as far as Pittsburgh for a Friday fish fix." The same article said Edward kept working at the steel mill while the restaurant got started, and that family members helped out in the dining room and behind the bar.
A 2009 TribLive review describes it at 180 Butler St. as a sit-down restaurant with a bar and a broad lunch and dinner menu. Owner-run for 57 years, a Friday fish fry that drew people from Pittsburgh, and kids pitching in on weekends: that is the record of the building Reichhold's is moving into.
Zacherl's lasted for a reason Route 8 couldn't offer Reichhold's. The family that ran the restaurant also controlled the building, and the Butler Street corner shows how long a dining room can last that way.
Owning the building changes the math
The cafe's website, reichholdfarms.com, now opens with the new address and three short lines:
Same family. Same heart. Fresh new home.
Further down it says, "We're keeping what matters most and giving the café a modern new home in the heart of Saxonburg." Another line says "the farm chapter may be behind us, but the café and the family behind it are moving forward."
- 1965: The restaurant on Butler Street is bought, with Edward Zacherl and his brother Leroy behind the business.
- About 2022: Zacherl's closes after 57 years under Edward and Eileen Zacherl, based on the Eagle's 2024 "two years ago."
- April 14, 2026: The Eagle reports that Reichhold's will close on Route 8 after failing to buy its building.
- April 30, 2026: The lease ends and the Route 8 cafe closes.
- July 3, 2026: The owners announce on Facebook that they bought the former Zacherl's building and are renovating it.
- September 9, 2026: Butler Radio reports that the owners closed on the building earlier in the year and that no opening date is set yet.
- September 14, 16 and 18: The cafe holds in-person hiring sessions at 180 Butler Street.
The gap between steps three and five is under three months. In that time a business that had just lost its home went from tenant to owner, and it chose a building with a well-known history that had been closed for several years.
What the hiring call says about the kitchen
The September hiring sessions give the best look so far at how the new cafe plans to run. The family took applications in person at the new location from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. on September 14, 16 and 18. The openings were line cooks, servers, a prep person and dishwashers. It listed two staff shifts. The early shift runs 5:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and the second runs 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Those are staff schedules and shouldn't be read as the hours the doors will be open. Still, they match what the Eagle called the cafe on Route 8, "a staple breakfast spot." Both shifts are built around mornings and midday. Zacherl's ran its kitchen around lunch, dinner and a Friday fish fry, so the same room looks set for a very different day.
Where things stand heading into November
Here is what has been published so far:
| Detail | Status |
|---|---|
| Address | 180 Butler Street, Saxonburg, the former Zacherl's |
| Ownership | Building bought by the Reichhold's owners in 2026 |
| Previous location | 772 Pittsburgh Road, Route 8, Penn Township, closed April 30 |
| Staffing | Applications for line cooks, servers, prep and dishwashers taken in mid-September |
| Opening date | Not announced; the website still says "soon" |
| Menu and customer hours | Not yet posted |
| Where updates will be shared | The cafe's Facebook page, according to its website |
You'll see two spellings. The cafe's own site and the Eagle's July story use "Reichhold's." The Eagle's April story and Butler Radio's report use "Reichold's." Butler Radio also calls the street Butler Road, and the cafe's site uses Butler Street. It's the same family and the same corner either way, so search both spellings to catch every update.
The other date on Saxonburg's calendar
Whenever the cafe opens, the next big night downtown is the holiday parade. The Saxonburg Borough events page lists the Annual Holiday Parade on Main Street for November 27, sponsored by the Saxonburg Area Business Association. The SABA parade page says the parade is the day after Thanksgiving, which is Friday, November 27, this year, and that 2026 details "will be posted here soon." A July festival roundup in the Butler Eagle lists the parade for November 28. Check the SABA page for the start time before you head out.
Last year's parade gives a rough idea of how the evening runs. The Eagle's 2025 preview said it started at 7 p.m. at the Saxonburg Volunteer Fire Company carnival grounds and finished at the Dollar General on Main Street. A Holiday Market at South Butler Community Library came first, and Santa and hot chocolate followed at the library. Those were the 2025 plans, so wait for SABA to post this year's details before you count on them. The Borough's page also lists a December Christmas Market, with the date still to come.
For now, follow Reichhold's on Facebook for news from 180 Butler Street. The website says opening details and updates will be shared there.
If you want to talk about what's changing around Saxonburg's downtown and what it might mean for your own plans, Jennie Spohn is glad to share what she's seeing locally. Let's Connect.
