In a turn of events that has both surprised and distressed local coffee enthusiasts, OCF Coffee House, a staple in the Philadelphia cafe scene, announced the permanent closure of all three of its locations. Ori Feibush, the owner of the establishments, cited "rising costs, reduced sales, and the expiration of leases" as the primary reasons for the shutdown, according to a statement obtained by The Philadelphia Inquirer. The closure comes just one week after the cafe workers delivered their intent to unionize to Feibush, who mentioned the business has been unprofitable over its 13-year tenure.
Feibush, who personally met with staff on Monday to discuss the decision, described the shutdown as a "difficult decision," not citing directly the workers' recent move to unionize but alluding to additional administrative and legal costs associated with it, as the Philadelphia ABC news affiliate 6abc reports. OCF Coffee House's locations in the Fairmount, Rittenhouse, and Point Breeze neighborhoods have been familiar gathering spots for the community, a relationship highlighting the irony that a gathering aimed to address the workers' concerns, a planned walkout at the Fairmont location, will now not take place due to the abrupt closure.
Workers at OCF Coffee have shown a proactive stance in recent times, seeking to unionize in response to conditions they felt needed formal collective bargaining—a movement that garnered a majority of employees signing a letter requesting union recognition just last week, this development throwing a spotlight on the intensifying national debate surrounding labor rights and the hospitality industry.
While Feibush has not specified the role of the unionization efforts on the decision to close, he has mentioned the business struggles in a broader context—the assertion that the operations were never profitable standing out as a stark marker of the challenges small businesses face in the fluctuating economic landscape, the closures thus represent not just the loss of local coffee shops but prompt a deeper reflection on the sustainability of small-scale enterprises in urban settings, which are often at the intersection of creased margins and increasing operational expectations by consumers and employees alike.
