Chika, Glu Hospitality’s ‘Blade Runner’-themed ramen bar, has closed
The Center City ramen bar's closure comes a month after The Inquirer discovered it had been serving alcohol with an expired liquor license. The upstairs Bagels & Co. is also closing.
Chika, the Blade Runner-inspired subterranean ramen bar from Glu Hospitality, has closed, the restaurant group’s co-founder Derek Gibbons said Friday. Its upstairs neighbor, a location of Glu’s bagel shop chain Bagels & Co., will also close.
These are the second and third Glu Hospitality restaurants to shutter this year as the company faces legal challenges, wage theft allegations from employees, and ongoing issues with several liquor licenses. The Philadelphia Department of Revenue ordered 1225 Raw — Glu’s Center City sushi spot — to cease operations on Jan. 15 over unpaid taxes.
» READ MORE: From December 2024: Cease-operations order issued for 1225 Raw as owner plans to sunset it
Gibbons said Glu was handing back both spaces to the landlord.
“The [liquor] license renewal was just too much of an obstacle and the space couldn’t keep up financially, unfortunately,” Gibbons told the Inquirer over text message. The adjoining Bagels & Co. is also the chain’s lowest performer, Gibbons said, and is too close to another location at 17 S. 11th St.
Employees at Chika were told that the ramen bar’s closure would only be temporary, according to a message Gibbons sent staff on March 3 obtained by The Inquirer.
“Hey team,” Gibbons said. “Chika will be closed the remainder of this week as we work through some things.”
Google Maps was still showing Chika as “temporarily closed” as of Friday afternoon, but its phone service was disconnected.
Earlier this year the Inquirer uncovered that Chika, located at 1526 Sansom Street, was one of four Glu restaurants that had been serving alcohol using catering permits or expired liquor licenses, which is against state law in Pennsylvania. Issued by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board and required to purchase and serve wine and spirits, liquor licenses must be renewed annually and can be denied if an establishment’s taxes are not fully paid up with the Pennsylvania Departments of Revenue and Labor & Industry.
Establishments suspected of flouting state liquor laws are investigated by the state police’s Bureau of Liquor Enforcement, and can result in shut down orders, citations for managers, or fines in excess of $1,000 per violation.
Chika had been serving alcohol after its liquor license expired on Oct. 31. On Jan. 30 — the day that The Inquirer asked for information about the license — Chika posted a series of handwritten notes on the door stating that alcohol would not be served until the license was renewed. Since then, Chika had operated as a BYOB.
You wouldn’t know it from from Chika’s Instagram, though: Throughout February, videos and stories posted to Chika’s Instagram highlighted drink deals, espresso martinis, and the Deckard, Chika’s signature Japanese whisky and soju cocktail.
“Whoever said money can’t buy happiness is lying because I can get wings and a cocktail at Chika happy hour,” reads one post from Feb. 20, 19 days after Chika stopped serving alcohol.
Glu, which had previously been lauded for its rapid growth, operates several Bagels & Co. locations across Pennsylvania and Florida, sushi restaurant Izakaya Fishtown (which has a Sushi By Bou outpost inside), Northern Liberties’ vibe dining hot spot Figo, and a location of New Jersey coffee chain Almost Home General in Old City.
Figo and Almost Home General had been serving alcohol through off-premises catering permits since their respective opening dates in October 2021 and May 2024. Izakaya Fishtown’s liquor license had expired on Oct. 2023. A state police spokesperson told The Inquirer that officers had visited 1832 Frankford Avenue — where Izakaya Fishtown and Sushi By Bou are located — during the first week of February.
Earlier this week, Glu opened the Peabody, a sports bar, at 1431 Cecil B. Moore Ave. on the Temple University campus in the building that previously housed Draught Horse, the long-running sports bar closed in 2021.
Glu is currently facing allegations of wage theft and financial mismanagement, according to a petition signed by “the workers of Glu Hospitality” that was published online in October by Nia Byrd, a former 1225 Raw employee who was bartending at Chika until it closed.
The petition is asking the restaurant group to “address frequent occurrences of bounced checks,” to supply any missing W-2s, and to “immediately pay all back wages owed to workers,” among other issues. It has received over 3,000 signatures.
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