LeBus to close after 20 years at Penn

The popular eatery will close its Sansom Street restaurant and focus on its baking. After 20 years as a Penn landmark, the Le Bus bakery and cafeteria on the 3400 block of Sansom Street is set to roll off campus tomorrow, to be replaced by a national soup, salad and sandwich chain. The popular eatery chain originated at the University as a food truck on the corner of 34th and Sansom streets in March 1978 and moved into its current storefront on upscale Sansom Row in 1984. But according to co-owner Ruth Drye, the difficulties of running both a restaurant and fresh bakery began to take its toll. "Le Bus is moving more in the direction of the baking business," she said. "We're putting more of our attention these days in the fresh baking. We didn't have enough in us to oversee such a diverse group of operations." While Drye denied that the cafeteria was losing money -- as one employee said it was -- she did say that it was the store's "weakest link." Le Bus will continue to run its establishments in Ardmore, Pa., and Center City. Company officials also plan to "significantly" expand operations at their wholesale bakery in Manayunk by the end of this year. Coming into Le Bus' vacated location will be Soupmasters, a national chain based in Maryland with 14 stores in the eastern United States. The company currently has stores locally in Center City, King of Prussia, Pa., and Cherry Hill, N.J., as well as in locations as far away as Ohio and Illinois. Drye said that in talks with Soupmasters, it became clear that the new shop would not be very different from Le Bus. "They told me that they don't intend to change much around the place," she said. "What motivated them was trying something away from a food court scenario." Robert Bettis, manager of the Soupmasters in Liberty Place in Center City, said that the store's menu resembles that of Le Bus, with an emphasis on soups, salads and wraps. Bettis said that the chain -- which is expected to open its Sansom Street location in time for the beginning of the fall semester -- offers several different types of salads and sandwiches and three dozen different types of soups, from seafood to vegetarian offerings. While the trendy menu should bring some consolation to Le Bus' regular customers, it will be little consolation to the 25 employees at Le Bus' on-campus location, most of whom will lose their jobs as a result of this closing. "We're doing everything we can," Drye said. "We're trying, let's put it that way. Obviously we can't absorb all of them." Drye added that she is sorry to leave the University City area to which she has become "very emotionally attached" over the last two decades. "It's a colorful community," she said. "It's never been without its drama. I've loved every minute of it." Though it is shutting down its retail business at Penn, Drye said that Le Bus will continue to keep its main offices and a bakery at the Sansom Street location for the next several months. There are also no plans to sell the building, owned by Le Bus co-founder Daniel Braverman. Instead, the company will lease the building's ground-floor retail location to Soupmasters. But in its coming departure, Drye said, Le Bus plans to give a little something back to its customers. Today and tomorrow -- its last day of operation -- Le Bus will be giving away free coffee and pastries during normal breakfast hours. The lunch menu will not be affected.