El Diner, the eatery that opened in February on the 3900 block of Walnut Street, shut its doors for good yesterday.
University officials said that, although they had been aware for about two weeks that the restaurant was having trouble, word of its imminent closure only reached them Tuesday.
"I'm very upset that they've basically gone back on their word," Penn Executive Vice President John Fry said.
Fry said that the operators of the restaurant, Goldman Properties, had approached him a few weeks ago to say that they "were not doing enough business to justify their continued operation."
According to Fry, Goldman indicated that they would continue to operate through the summer while helping to identify another restaurant tenant.
"Instead of giving us the summer to go through an orderly succession process... they're now pulling the plug when just a week ago they weren't going to do that," Fry said.
Gary Farmer, overseer of the restaurant division of Goldman Properties, would not comment on the matter last night, saying only that El Diner would be open on Friday evening for a previously scheduled blues concert.
Fry said that Goldman had a five-year contract with the University, and that he "intends to make them fulfill their obligation to us." He added that attorneys from both sides would be meeting today.
Last night, a security guard was posted outside the shuttered El Diner, which replaced Eat at Joe's, a 50's-themed restaurant that closed last July.
However, Fry did not put the blame for El Diner's demise solely on Goldman's shoulders, saying a lack of student patronage was also an issue.
"Where's the demand?," he said. "Eat at Joe's was admittedly not the right first choice, but I think everyone agreed that El Diner... was a pretty good diner."
"Do I want to go out and find a third diner now if you guys aren't going to use it?" Fry added, addressing the student body.
Fry's next plans for the site were indefinite.
"Maybe the diner concept is wrong -- maybe it should be another concept," he said. "Before we run out to try to get another operator, we have to make pretty sure that there's going to be enough activity... or else we're going to have the same problem a year from now."
