Iron Hill Brewery closes its Voorhees, Chestnut Hill, and Newark locations
The move, which includes shuttering Iron Hill’s flagship location, allows the chain “to adapt to a changing business landscape,” executives said. The company continues to operate 16 locations.
Iron Hill Brewery has closed its flagship restaurant and two Philly-area locations.
The restaurants in Chestnut Hill, Voorhees, and Newark, Del., shut their doors for good Wednesday morning, Iron Hill executives said, “as part of the company’s ongoing efforts to adapt to a changing business landscape.”
Iron Hill poured its first beer for customers at the Newark location nearly 29 years ago. The brewery opened the Chestnut Hill restaurant in 2012, and its Voorhees outpost, then its 10th location, a year later.
“While we are closing a few locations, this is truly part of a larger growth story: We are evolving, strengthening our brand, and positioning Iron Hill for long-term success,” CEO Mark Kirke, who took the helm in January, said in a statement.
The company was having individual conversations Wednesday with affected employees, spokesperson Danielle Guzzetta said, with the hope that “a significant number” of them will apply for jobs at its 16 remaining locations.
Those include restaurants in Center City, Exton, Huntingdon Valley, Maple Shade, Media, Newtown, North Wales, West Chester, and Wilmington.
Now known for its brewed-in-house beer, wide-ranging food menu, and King of the Hill mug club, Iron Hill began as the passion project of Delaware home brewers Kevin Finn and Mark Edelson. In 1996, they joined with experienced restaurant professional Kevin Davies to launch the Newark brewery. Two years later, they opened their second location in West Chester. By their 20th anniversary in 2016, they had a dozen restaurants.
Over the past decade, Iron Hill has expanded beyond the Mid-Atlantic region, with spots in South Carolina and Georgia. In late 2020, amid the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, it opened a production brewery and began canning its beers to sell at grocery stores and beer distributors.
In front of the Exton facility, the company also launched its first TapHouse location, which allowed guests to order food and drink via counter service. At the time, executives said they were planning several more TapHouses in the area.
In recent years, restaurants nationwide have struggled, as rising costs eat away at their profits and cause consumers to cut back on eating out.
Iron Hill closed its Ardmore and Phoenixville locations in 2024, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal. At the time, brewery executives told the Journal they had plans to expand elsewhere. A couple months later, Iron Hill announced it would open its 20th restaurant on Temple University’s campus. As of Wednesday, plans for a forthcoming North Broad Street location remain unchanged, Guzzetta said, but it has not yet opened.