Philadelphia's Charitable Eatery The Rooster Closing This Weekend

PHILADELPHIA — The Rooster, Michael Solomonov and Steve Cook's soupy eatery that donates all of its profits to charity, is closing its doors.

Cook and Solomonov announced the diner-style eatery in Center City will close after its last service on Saturday, June 8.

Formerly The Rooster Soup Company, the 1526 Sansom St. spot is closing due to financial reasons, the pair said in their announcement.

"Although the restaurant started strong two and half years ago, for well over a year we have been funding losses out of pocket in an effort to buy time for The Rooster to find its footing," the announcement reads. "For a restaurant whose fundamental premise is to generate funds for our non- profit partner, this has become an untenable and counterproductive situation."

The pair own and operate several Philly restaurants under their CookNSolo banner, one being the James Beard Award-winning Zahav and Federal Donuts, among others.

The Rooster, unlike their other restaurants, donated all of its proceeds to Broad Street Ministry — which helps Philadelphians living in deep poverty stabilize their lives through a unique offering of meals and social services.

"The Rooster made a statement that the business and not-for-profit worlds can be natural allies – not adversaries – in the fight against the intractable problems that face our society," the pair said

Broad Street Ministry Executive Director Mike Dahl lauded The Rooster's mission of bringing people together to solve one of the city's most pressing issues: homelessness.

"We will always be so grateful to all of the generous people who helped to launch The Rooster—a first of its kind collaboration, to the Rooster staff for helping to teach us what radical hospitality really means, to all of the patrons who supported social justice through their patronage, and to Mike and Steve for their genuine compassion for and sacrifice on behalf of our most vulnerable neighbors," Dahl said. "The Rooster has and will continue to serve as a beacon for what can be accomplished when creative minds across sectors come together to solve our community’s problems."

There is no word on what may fill the Sansom Street space after The Rooster moves out.

The Rooster, when it was The Rooster Soup Company, was named one of the nation's best new restaurants by GQ in 2017 after it opened.

Here's what the magazine had to say about the altruistic restaurant:

Open from breakfast through early-bird dinner, it offers loving re-imaginings of East Coast Jewish-inflected diner favorites: chicken schnitzel served with beet-and-dill spread on homemade Martin's Butter Bread; a chicken potpie enlivened by hawaij, a Yemeni spice blend; smoked-matzo-ball soup.