make sure people are directed to the speakeasy, but they also wanted to have as many hours
downstairs as possible for the slider company. So my client agreed to kind of extend those hours
for the slider company, and so that, you know, on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays,
it would be from 4 to 11 p.m. just for the slider company, the first four, and there's extended
hours for the speakeasy. And then on Sundays, it would be from four to 10. So there would be a lot
And then on Sundays, it would be from 4 to 10. So there would be a lot more overlap with the hours of operation. So we go into, you know, probably like a week before the community meeting expecting this is a pretty basic project.
more overlap.
And honestly, and you'll hear about Chef Will and his story, and it's something that we should be proud of and embrace.
And we're expecting to have a straightforward project, and then all of a sudden, all hell breaks loose.
We're getting word that, like, you know, there's a petition of the next-door neighbor who's a business,
who operates, like, their entire commercial premises from first floor to third floor,
And, you know, they feel uncomfortable that there's a restaurant here on the Frankfurt Avenue corridor. That's, I mean, that's not unheard of to have a restaurant on Frankfurt Avenue in Fishtown.
And, you know, I can think of it from their point of view, okay, you're hearing a slider company, you're thinking, you know, maybe smell, you're thinking, okay, there's someone operating, you know, before me, someone operating maybe extended hours, so it's the smell, maybe it's the noise.
But let me put this in perspective. When the owner purchased this property, this
two-story property, you'll see it. It was completely dilapidated. The person who owned
the property at the time lived there. He used literally a bucket as their toilet.
He sat in front of this property and was smoking, this is my understanding,
smoking and then drinking and throwing bottles at people at all hours of the day this person was
pretty disruptive so when my client purchased this dilapidated property got rid of this you know
disruptive person in neighborhood you're thinking about okay here we're where we were and here where
we're going in terms of a restaurant established from a responsible operator so we were prepared
to make this presentation in front of fishtown neighbors association we made our presentation
There really wasn't much questions. The only questions we had were, are you going to sprinkler the building? And I'm like, of course we are. Well, it's not in your plans. I'm like, but we explained that this is a use application and you're not going to see that in the use application.
You're going to see that when we hopefully get past this, the zoning part of it and get it, you know, apply for building permit. And so we explained that. And I think that's one of the things in their letter that they reference about the sprinkler system.
um and again we talked about a little bit about the sap like the smell right because they want
to make sure that you know we're going to bend through the roof like we have responsible
you know commercial hood that was the extent of it it was a very strange meeting where it was only
a few questions we were let out and i can tell what was happening there no one was asking us
actually questions to wanting to know answers they just were like okay we want you to be done
your presentation and then we're going to and then the people in the audience are going to tell
the the board and the community what they think um which is sad because at least have an honest
and open conversation i'm glad we have a hearing today i'm going to be very interested to see
fact specific objections that the objectors have to this project which is their burden but i've
not heard anything to date regarding that um so the other things that are in this letter and by
By the way, the air in opposition news, if you look at the vote, it was a very close vote, even with the fact that, you know, there was a little bit of an uprising here.
Um, the, you know, trash, you know, would be picked up three days a week, which we stated, we would put that as a proviso commercial trash pickup.
Um, we did state that the trash cans were going to be located outside in the rear in the enclosed area. And that's where we pointed out that we also would install a fence right to hide that corner property makes sense.
so that was another point and then you know will there be beer coolers for takeout alcohol sales
and we said no I mean it's not a zoning related thing but we don't intend to sell six packs
or things like that that was not the intention I mean again you'll see you'll hear a little bit
about the slider company its history its owners and what they do in the community but that was
not the intention uh and then you know a confusion about like when the first floor would close up and
then the second floor would stay open so we try to explain that um and then just the whole question
about this speakeasy thing i don't know if they didn't get it they didn't understand it we tried
to really explain it to the best of our ability um but there wasn't much discussion with us so i
I have no idea what the objections are. So, again, that's their burden today.
And if you see the vote, it was a pretty close vote.
Again, Fishtown Neighbors Association is a very sophisticated group, like the executive board.
So, if they apply the legal standard, I don't know what their objections were.
If they apply the legal standard, I don't know what their objections were. To this date, I still don't.
I, I, I.
And then, but we do have community support, right?
So we didn't even ask this person, but I believe her name is, I just want to make sure, Ashley Tracy, who was the former president of the Fishtown Neighbors Association, put it upon herself, we didn't ask her, to distribute a petition.
And, you know, in this letter of support, the former president of the Fishtown Neighbors Association stated that this use represented the commercial character of the Frankfurt Avenue corridor.
It's a high quality restaurant. It would have minimal impact to the businesses nearby.
And it also references the fact that this North Delaware overlay has been problematic. It's overextended itself.
I think it was to protect about businesses on Delaware Avenue. And it just, it's just an unintended consequence by, you know, impacting businesses in this part of Fishtown. And then they talked about also the thoughtful operation where we're going to do private trash pickup three times a week. We're going to install a bike rack, you know, things that the neighbor, the Fishtown Neighbors Association, which is a very sophisticated group, asks of us.
and they talked about inclusivity, you know, just in general. So they distributed the petition,
and we didn't do this. We got this from, again, Ms. Tracy, and these are the people who
signed this petition. I guess it was docu-signed, and, you know, we don't have a record of this,
But, you know, the comments are very interesting. You know, burgers can't hurt us. No discrimination in this neighborhood. You know, this is, you know, there's been some overtones here. I'm not saying that the neighbor next door is, but like there has been some, you know, this is an African American business that's trying to operate here.
They have operated, you know, they are operating in the neighborhood themselves.
I mean, honestly, if like there's Huda Burger, Huda Burger's, you know, well-known operator, moved to Fishtown, did not have to like go through this process.
But if Huda Burger, like switch Huda Burger for the slider company, I don't think we would have that issue here.
It's the same thing.
Huda Burger sells burgers, right?
It's the same thing.
There's nothing going on here.
But there's if you look at the comments here, there's a lot of comments about, you know, this being a black owned business and why are we doing this to a black owned business?
And, you know, I just think that you I feel like it's like because of the overlay, everybody has to.
It does overlay. But you're saying the comments. Yeah, I'd say in the comments on the people in the audience from that community meeting felt like there were racial overtones.
here and what's sad is we should embrace you know chef will and anisha anisha because they're born
and raised philadelphians they are responsible operators here and what i felt in that room was
that you're not you're like you have to be part you're like this is our club on frankfurt avenue
and it's almost like you need to like apply to be a member of the frankfurt avenue club and
that's not how it works like just because you were there first doesn't mean you get to decide
who's next to you. Again, there's nothing stopping the person next door to leave, right? If they
don't want to work, have a business on the Frankfurt Avenue corridor, they don't have to
be there, but they don't have to prevent others who are responsible business operators from being
there. So this is the slider company. We wanted to give you like the operations and kitchen hour
plans, but, you know, you'll see during the presentation that the, you know, the basement
level is just, you know, for the prep area, dishwashing, storage, no customer access. The
ground level is for the slider company, fast casual dining, contains the buildings only in the
kitchen and seating. And then the second floor is going to be the mezzanine 1909, which is seated
cocktail lounge. That's a speakeasy. That's a speakeasy with elevated dining, no cooking on
this floor. All the cooking will be done in the kitchen on the first floor. Then the hours of
operation for the kitchen is going to be 11 for from 11 to 11 on the weekdays other and Saturday
and then Sunday will be at 10 p.m. and that's for the entire establishment food is shut off at 11
o'clock whether you're downstairs or upstairs and then the hours of operation as I stated was
Wednesday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and then Sunday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and then that's
the slider company and for mezzanine 1909 it's wednesday and thursday from 4 p.m to 12 a.m and
then friday and saturday 4 p.m to 1 a.m as well as sunday from 4 p.m to 10 p.m again we're activating
uh pm uh again we're activating a corner in the fish town area that has been you know dark for
a corner in the Fishtown area.
some time on many levels um and you know and you'll see the difference in just the the landlord
has already started doing light work on the exterior you know you know anticipation hopefully
the slaughtered company coming here with with permits um and you know we'll talk about now i
think i think it'll be good to talk about the the track record and how we got here today so i would
like um um chef will to be like sworn in i'll have some questions for him sure could you please state
your name and spell for this photographer uh william johnson w-i-o-l-i-a-m-g-o-h-n-s-o-n
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes counsel yeah uh
chef will uh can you tell the board how you originally got into the restaurant business
sure um i started as a dishwasher about 30 years ago i was 16 and i worked my way up um you know
just hard work and realizing you know that i wanted to be in this business and i knew i was talented
And so from 16 to 18, I washed dishes in Narbeth, right outside of Philadelphia.
And then I went to Wayne and worked under Christopher Todd, who's my mentor now.
He owns Christopher Neighborhood Places.
Just get a little bit closer to that, Mike, for me.
That's it.
Can you hear me now?
That's it.
And I worked in Wayne on the main line for about five or six years, you know, catering and working in different homes out there, private chef cooking.
And from there, I went to World Cafe Lob downtown. I opened that up in 2004. And from there, I went
to country clubs where I was a private chef would travel with the different members and things of
that nature. And 2012, I opened up Mia and Me Catering. It's a private catering company that
I own now. And I've been to 46 countries across the world, really just like eating burgers and
trying different foods to really come up with this concept. And so we were excited to get to
this place where we are now and possibly open it up at Fishtown. All right. And how did you
meet Anisha? And then how did you start the concept of the slider company? So I met Anisha
in 2016. And we met online, actually. And she was doing baking and things of that nature. And when
we would travel together, we realized that we wanted to have like a burger spot because
we were eating so much in different places. And so it didn't materialize right away. However,
in 2021, we both moved to Delaware and I was introduced to a lawyer down there who had
a space downtown right there at Orange and 10th, right across the street from where the
New Angelos is in Deco right down downtown. And so we opened that in 2021 with the lawyer down
there. It was formerly called DE Slider Co, Delaware Slider Company. And we closed it down
in 2025 last year, February, because we had this opportunity in Fishtown. We wanted to come back
home to Philadelphia and embrace the Fishtown area. So that's how all that came about.
Yeah, but you also have kept alive the concept of a distiller company because you also do work with Aramark, right?
Yes, we have non-rotating locations within Aramark's system.
It's called a local restaurant row where they do business with different restaurants.
And so we can open up in any local restaurant row in America.
But we have nine rotating through all their Jefferson hospitals currently.
okay so you're at all the jefferson hospitals locally or in some of them at least in some
we have one in cherry hill new jersey but we we rotate those uh monthly all right and then
but you also have developed roots in the fish town kensington area how so so we have a pop-up
now that we were awarded the um rfp for the nkcdc we occupies us we occupy a space maybe about
150 yards from where our brick and mortar is going to be. What's the address of that one?
2211 Frankfurt Avenue. Okay, and that was a competitive process where you had to compete
against other restaurant establishments to get that RFP accepted. Yes, we did. It took about
60 days for them to decide on who was going to occupy the space. Okay, and then what do you do
at that establishment in terms of operations and organization? So it's basically a restaurant,
but it's outdoors. We had a lot of different families come by and, you know, we would do our
sliders. We had different sides that we do fresh. The slider company is basically a quick service
restaurant and we offer high quality sliders and homemade sides, homemade beverages. And we kind
And we kind of, from that space, we catered from that space, we fed on-site dining from that space, and it was takeout from that space.
of from that space we we catered from that space we uh
So that opportunity that we had during the summer, in conjunction, not that only being the only one, we had another one maybe about five minutes away that we operated another pop-up.
So they were going simultaneously.
Well, why don't you tell about the other pop-ups you have in the neighborhood?
Okay, so we had to-
I mean, I think I understand the pop-ups.
no no I'm talking he has other locations yeah I know I I think I think I'll get a picture he's
all over the place with the pop-ups and well and he's also in some some nice establishments too
deluxe right yes okay so deluxe you know which is a scan it's also Jefferson right it's he does
Jefferson but did he he's in a in an apartment building that is run by the scan the Pico family
yeah um you also what about the breweries and occupy three distilleries and breweries in
um fishtown one is sacred vice the other one is four humors distillery and the one that we have
to do tonight is a lost town brewery yeah mr chair it's not me that has to go to a meeting
it's it's my client who has to serve people at six o'clock today that's why we asked for you know to
be pushed up there because my client was getting concerned so and i'm going to try to be as short
as possible so he can get there in time i'm hoping yeah yeah well i i get it but let me
you this let me ask this do you have any more other questions for him um do you want him adopt
your testimony uh yeah he can adopt my testimony i mean yes if so you heard everything to date uh
what i've stated about your zoning matter is that correct yes and it's true and correct of what i
stated yes and do you adopt this your own testimony yes i do all right so we'll see how much longer
I would need Chef Will. But in the materials, you know, that was submitted to the board, we talk,
we submit about their vision. This is straight from their website, their mission, you know,
a little bit about them, which kind of goes into what Chef Will stated. And just to, I just want
to make sure it's not, the board understands. The reason why you closed the Wilmington operations too
was because the downtown there is limited right so you know there's not much of a
opportunity for business after business hours yes okay so it wasn't because you were unsuccessful
there no not at all yeah and then you know again the fill the metro you know we have a
an article about the slarter company and what they're doing and just because they have pop-ups
doesn't mean that you know they don't want i didn't think pop-up was bad to say no i know but
i just want to make sure this but this is what they wanted to do is the is the brick and mortar
to have like you know their dream come true in terms of the slider company itself plus this ellis
elevated you know speakeasy right so it's a little bit about anisha as well and i'll bring anisha on
a little bit later and and she has a very interesting story and and by the way chef will
you born and raised in philadelphia right absolutely yeah both of you so all right um
and then also in 2023 you were best of delaware for your sliders okay and then you know and i'm
gonna have the architect testify as to this but ultimately you received requirements from the
architect who's who's designing your space right yes and his name is ian toner yes okay and from
there you received a quote for a commercial hood system yes and the quotes for thirty thousand
dollars i think right is twenty nine thousand five hundred and you're prepared to to install
that hood yes and your understanding is also that the venting for that for for the for the
restaurant will come through the roof is that correct yes okay all right and then you understand
too you know that there is you know accommodations not just for odor but also for sound yes
okay and that's part of the scope of work that you agreed with the landlord yes
all right all right and then again part of the analysis is it is it consistent
with the city's comprehensive plan right so we took from the actual Philadelphia
2035 river wards district plan this is page 30 of the plan talks about
community serving facilities and access to healthy foods and I highlighted the
fact that in the plan second paragraph fresh food choices can be difficult to find in many urban
neighborhoods and can and i think you stated this but like why don't you talk about the the choice
in foods uh that you put on your menu um so i i don't alan i don't want them to go over the whole
menu okay that's fine i mean i okay understand that i mean because you could say well how do
you cook it i mean yeah i just think i think you you painted a picture of what he does where he's
been and what he's doing up there. So, I mean, I, um, okay. And then also in the comprehensive plan,