Mac Mart is closing its original location in Center City

Mac Mart, the build-a-bowl mac and cheese shop, is closing its Rittenhouse store next February, according to owner Marti Lieberman, who announced earlier this month that she decided not to renew the shop’s lease.

Lieberman also noted this would not be the end of Mac Mart: In addition to franchising, it will be returning to its roots as a food truck for catered events starting next month.

Mac Mart was part of the wave of food trucks that defined the city’s street-food scene in the early 2010s, operating at spaces like the Food Trust’s Night Market, Manayunk StrEAT Fest, and along North 33rd Street at Drexel University. “Our first day with our food truck was at 33rd and Arch on Jan. 8, 2013. I was so green that I forgot to bring money,” Lieberman, 35, said. “A customer came to the window and ordered our Buffalo chicken bowl, In the Buff, which is still our bestseller, and my mom was there taking photos. I had to ask my mom for money to give him change.”

As Philly’s interest in food trucks waned, many operators opened brick-and-mortar storefronts, like Spot Burgers in Brewerytown, South Philly Barbacoa in Italian Market, Revolution Taco in Rittenhouse, and my own former food cart, Poi Dog, which opened in Rittenhouse in 2017 before closing as a result of the pandemic in 2020.

Lieberman signed a decade-long lease at 104 S. 18th St. in 2016, winding down operations at her food truck. “Our last service with the food truck was May 20, 2018, and it was a wedding at the 23rd Street Armory,” Lieberman said. “We sold the truck, which we called Big Pink, back to the man who had built it for us at Nationwide Auto.” Lieberman then turned her full attention to Mac Mart’s new storefront, which did well until the pandemic brought business to a halt.

Center City’s pedestrian volume has increased in recent years but still hasn’t reached pre-pandemic levels — something Lieberman’s noticed firsthand. “The streets are fairly empty at lunchtime nowadays,” Lieberman said. “You have your good days but those good days are equivalent to your terrible days before COVID. The foot traffic is just not there. I can’t pay this astronomical rent anymore when I’m getting a third of the customers compared to nine years ago.” She added that many of her regulars from a decade ago have moved to the suburbs, far out of their delivery radius.

The lack of customers forced her to streamline the business. She is no longer open seven days a week and has a staff of four, including her husband, Garrett Jablonski, who is their night manager, and her sister, Pamela Lorden.

Mac Mart will return as a food truck for hire, operating in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey, with hopes to expand beyond the Mid-Atlantic region. Lieberman also launched a franchising arm of the business in 2023; the first franchised Mac Mart opened in October in Ardmore. (Lorden is a co-owner of the franchise operation and the new food truck operation.) She also launched smart vending machines that she calls “Munch Machines” around Philadelphia three years ago.

“We have six around the city and they help us make ends meet,” she said. “I stock them twice a week with products from Cleaver’s, Huda, Sweet Box, Revolution Taco, Farina Pasta, Dillonades, and more.”

In the decision to end her lease, Lieberman also cited crime, which has been an issue for other small, independently owned restaurants, such as the Italian Market’s Alma del Mar. “Our customers and anyone who follows us knows that we’ve had our share of problems in the neighborhood,” Lieberman said. “We’ve been burglarized and robbed over seven times and we’ve had our window smashed in six or seven times.”

“I want to be in love with Philly the way I used to be,” Lieberman said. “But we’re not at the forefront of the city’s priorities, nor our landlord’s. This is not a small business-centric city. Even these big-box places — how many Starbucks and Wawas have left Philly at this point?”