Tag: Michael Solomonov

Restaurant group CookNSolo will close three Center City Federal Donuts & Chicken locations and shrink its Goldie falafel chain from four shops to one as owners Steve Cook and Michael Solomonov retrench, citing weakened demand for fast-casual dining, particularly at weekday lunch.

Federal Donuts’ shop at 1909 Sansom St. — designated only months ago as the company’s flagship after the South Philadelphia location closed in February — shut down after business Sunday. Locations at 21 S. 12th St. and 18th Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway are expected to close by July 31, although Cook said staff departures could accelerate the timetable.

Of Federal’s 45 employees, 27 will be laid off, Cook said. Eighteen employees will be retained to staff the two remaining Philadelphia stores, on Fairmount Avenue and on South Street. Federal launched in 2011 in South Philadelphia with a menu of fried chicken, coffee, and hot doughnuts from a robotic fryer.

Goldie, which debuted in 2017 with a menu of falafel, fries, and tehina shakes, will close its restaurants at 1218 Sansom St., Franklin’s Table food hall at 34th and Walnut Streets, and the Whole Foods Market at 2101 Pennsylvania Ave. in late July or early August. The lone remaining Goldie, at 1911 Sansom St., will absorb the chain’s delivery, takeout, and catering business.

Eighteen of Goldie’s 36 employees will lose their jobs. Cook said the company is working to help find former Federal Donuts and Goldie workers other roles. Hourly staffers will not be given severance, Cook said, as is standard industry practice.

Cook said the closures reflect a restaurant landscape that has changed dramatically since the pandemic.

Dozens of fast-casual and quick-service restaurants have opened in recent years. “We feel like we’re oversaturated in the city, given the economy right now and the demand for fast-casual restaurants,” he said. Federal Donuts has experienced “significant” year-over-year same-store sales declines, he said. He hopes the closures stem the losses.

“We have two great brands here that are worth saving, and we feel like economically this is the best way to preserve those brands.”

The company’s full-service restaurants — including Zahav, Dizengoff, K’Far Cafe, Jaffa Bar, and Laser Wolf — are unaffected by the shutdowns.

‘A mixed bag’

Cook cited both the lingering decline in Center City office workers and inflation as contributing factors to the closures.

“Post-COVID, while we’ve seen really good rebounds in the dinner, more fine-dining side of our business, weekday lunch traffic has never really returned to full strength,” he said. “The $10-to-$15 lunch is an easy thing to kind of do without.”

Cook’s assessment reflects broader industry trends.

While some national fast-casual brands such as Chipotle and Cava continue to post strong results, many regional chains are struggling as consumers increasingly choose prepared foods from grocery stores and convenience stores instead of restaurant meals, according to R.J. Hottovy, head of analytical research at Placer.ai, a location analytics and foot-traffic company.

While fine-dining restaurants have generally continued to gain traffic through much of 2026, “fast-casual has been more of a mixed bag,” Hottovy said.

Placer.ai’s findings show visits to grocery stores, convenience stores, and wholesale clubs increasing from a year earlier while overall restaurant visits have declined. “Middle-income consumers are increasingly substituting restaurant visits with meals at home,” Hottovy said.

Restaurants also continue to battle rising labor costs while customer traffic softens as menu prices rise. “Price increases are increasingly showing up as lost visits,” he said.

A sharp reversal

The Federal Donuts closures mark a sharp reversal from its expansion ambitions after Radnor-based NewSpring Capital acquired a controlling interest in 2022.

Federal then operated 11 locations and arena concessions, and executives envisioned a franchise system that eventually could reach 150 stores.

The company’s largest franchisee later closed its restaurants in Radnor, Conshohocken, and Willow Grove and returned several Philadelphia stores to the company. In April, Cook and Solomonov announced plans to regain control of those city locations, simplify operations, and improve execution.

At the time, the Sansom Street restaurant was designated as the flagship to redevelop menu items. “I thought we would get a significant bounce in sales [there] and it just didn’t happen,” Cook said.

Cook said NewSpring remains the majority owner of Federal Donuts, while he and Solomonov retain a significant ownership stake and seats on its board. Representatives of NewSpring did not respond to requests for comment.

Under the restructuring, two Philadelphia stores will remain. CookNSolo will take over the location at Seventh Street and Fairmount Avenue, now owned by the company, as a franchisee around Aug. 1.

Federal cofounder Tom Henneman confirmed that he was in talks to operate the location at Sixth and South Streets as a franchisee.

Cook said those stores were chosen because of their historical performance and geographic separation. Consolidating delivery and takeout in two locations instead of five should improve profitability, he said.

Besides the two city stores, Federal will continue operating independently owned franchises in Marlton, Lancaster, and the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, along with its licensed airport and stadium locations.

Goldie, unlike Federal Donuts, is owned entirely by CookNSolo.

CookNSolo has also been the focus of pro-Palestinian demonstrations and boycott campaigns since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, 2023. Activists have criticized the restaurant group for raising money for an Israeli emergency medical nonprofit as well as Cook’s and Solomonov’s outspoken support for Israel. The chefs have said their support for Israel was “not unqualified” and have criticized the Netanyahu government’s efforts to thwart a two-state solution.

A group with the Instagram handle @boycottcooknsolo on Monday reported word of the store closings, contending that the boycott had softened sales.

Cook disagreed. “Any time there’s been a protest, it’s always resulted in a short-term increase in business,” Cook said. “This is really an economic decision that goes back many years at this point.”

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