Hoping to trump or at least complement Cosi's offerings of coffee and bread, most of the new retailers that will be appearing around campus have also placed their bets on food -- especially crepes.
One such coming attraction is Bonne Crepe, a creperie that will likely make its debut during the first week of September in the Moravian Cafe food court on Walnut Street. Although owned by the two brothers behind Bitar's Middle Eastern restaurants, they claim that this French delicacy is a natural match.
"It's flat, it's round and it has food in it, so it's consistent to what we're doing already," said co-owner Amin Bitar, noting that his native Lebanon was a former French colony for many years. "That's where the connection started."
In contrast to the "crepe sandwich" offered by others around campus, namely the La Petite Creperie food truck at 37th and Sansom streets, Bitar said that his latest restaurant will sell more of a traditional crepe.
"It will be served in a platter with a clear plastic lid, and you'll be handed a fork and a knife," said Bitar, who will also have another creperie open at 3rd and Market streets by the end of August. "It's not street food."
However, he said that the pricing -- around five dollars per crepe -- will be consistent with that expected from a food court, as will the quick service.
"In two to five minutes, you had better be eating, if not burping, your first bite," Bitar said of his fifth restaurant in Philadelphia.
And although he said that he did not know of Bitar's expansion plans, the campus crepe king, La Petite Creperie owner Andreas Andoniadis, is forging ahead with expansion plans of his own. At the end of September, he will open his second creperie on the first floor of Houston Hall, in the present location of Pronto.
With many of his customers being drawn from 33rd and 34th streets, as well as from Center City, Andoniadis jumped when the opportunity arose for him to move east.
Andoniadis' newest restaurant, which will be open from 8 a.m. until 1 a.m, will offer breakfast as well as late night snacks. It will also feature flatbread crepes made over a fire, as well as Bucks County Coffee.
"When you have more space, you can do more things," Andoniadis said, motioning to his food truck. "Here, one guy is next to another -- we don't have space to make any extra movements."
Andoniadis said that he may increase the price of his crepes by a quarter to cover increased expenses of being in the student union, making the cost to indulge in a crepe four dollars.
As for his original food truck, Andoniadis does not expect business to decrease when his second location opens, believing that although some customers will be drawn off, others, once fearful of the usual long lines, may now find a streetside crepe irresistible.
Those potential customers can rest assured in knowing that Andoniadis has no plans to shut down his trademark.
"There's a lot of good coming out of this cart," he said. "I'd rather die than close it."
And even though both Bitar and Andoniadis brushed aside any negative thoughts of competition, saying that it will be good for business, Andoniadis, who began the campus crepe craze about three years ago, could not help but feel that his idea was being infringed upon.
"One thing is for sure, if somebody begins selling crepes over there, I gave them the idea, so actually, they're stealing something from me," he said.
Further up Walnut Street, another new restaurant is being planned, but one that will undoubtedly not serve crepes. In the wake of El Diner's closing in early June, Penn real estate officials said that they are currently talking with a prospective operator who thinks that his greasy spoons may finally be the key.
"He is utterly convinced that El Diner is not a real diner, and that's why it failed," Omar Blaik, Penn vice president of facilities and real estate services, said of the potential operator, whose name Blaik would not reveal.
According to Blaik, this potential operator, who owns several other diners in the tri-state area, sees fault in El Diner's haste to close up shop, and also with their pricing strategy that left many customers looking for the linen tablecloths.
"We are confident that this one is going to be right," Blaik said of El Diner's successor, which optimistically might open in November.
However, the site has had a troubled history with eating establishments. El Diner lasted only five months, and its predecessor, the 50's-themed Eat at Joe's -- complete with an indoor pink Cadillac -- drove off into the sunset after only two years.
The Ivy Grille, the centerpiece restaurant of the $120 million Sansom Common project, might also be undergoing some changes to better suit the fickle campus market. While presently an upscale bistro with an average entree price of $20, it may be retrofitted after the fall semester into a more moderately priced Italian restaurant.
"I'm still waiting for the construction drawings to come back to make sure that everything will fit into our budget," said Ivy Grille General Manager Harry Kratz, who, while declining to name the budget, said that it was "very conservative."
"I can't say it's a done deal at the moment," Kratz added. Construction, if it occurs, should take no more than two months.
Kratz said that the concept of Italian fare emerged out of management's hopes that a rethemed restaurant would "capture more of the available market."
If the construction costs were too high, Kratz speculated that the restaurant would remain in its present form. No matter what, he said, "we'll still remain a restaurant in one form or another."
During a survey of faculty, staff and students conducted by Penn's real estate services department last spring, an Italian restaurant was a frequent suggestion, Blaik said.
The overall preference expressed during the survey was to create a "more critical mass of retail" on campus, according to Blaik. In addition to an Italian restaurant, this also meant 24-hour food venues such as a diner, and more apparel options.
At the Sansom Common site of the former Ma Jolie women's clothing store, which unexpectedly closed at the beginning of the summer session, Blaik is "very certain" that another apparel store will take its place. However, he cautioned that the Class of 2002 might not have a chance to shop there, due to the difficulties in wooing either a national or a local operator.
Blaik said that immediately after Ma Jolie's University City demise, a local entrepreneur expressed a desire to take over the site, but due to "financial realities," the deal soon fell through. Penn is now starting to market the space more heavily, he said.
The University also could find an interim use for the space while searching for a major tenant, but Blaik said that he is "holding off" on that option "until I know for a fact that the long term strategy will take a lot of time."
Since the national boutique clothing market is undergoing a difficult time right now, with mainstream retailers like Target siphoning off more and more of the clothing business, Blaik said that his vision for Ma Jolie's replacement would be a store that appeals to the broader University market.
"We boys need to shop as well," Blaik said.
In addition, on the eastern edge of campus, retail is finally coming to the Left Bank, the $58 million dollar, 282-unit luxury apartment building that opened in February at 3131 Walnut Street. Veteran developer Carl Dranoff said that a European hair salon and spa, in addition to a gourmet grocery store and takeout, will open around Labor Day.
Named Picnic, the food retailer will offer breakfast, lunch and dinner, with all of the cooking and baking to be done on the premises.
"People coming home to the Left Bank will be able to get their dinner and take it up to their apartment," Dranoff said.
Picnic will likely be open until 8 p.m., and will feature both indoor and outdoor tables, which will help add life to an otherwise desolate stretch of Walnut Street.
"I think that it will blow people away," Dranoff said of Picnic. "The quality of what will be offered there will be very special."
Dranoff described the new salon and spa, named Vog, as being "very upscale," and said that it will be the operators' second store in Philadelphia.
Negotiations are currently underway for the other two retail spaces remaining in the Left Bank. Dranoff said that one of the vacancies will likely house a coffee bar by October, with a restaurant soon to follow. A Penn official close to the project said that such Center City coffee houses as Torreo and La Colombe are being considered.
In trying to lure new retailers, Dranoff said that an unmet need for goods in services in University City, coupled with the captive residential and office population of the Left Bank, make his property "very appealing."
Bonne Crepe's Bitar agreed with Dranoff's favorable assessment of the area's retail pulse.
"I'd be stupid not to," Bitar said of his expansion plans. "[University City] is probably the best area for development in the City of Philadelphia right now."
