Growing wholesale biz, Vegan Commissary to close at 4 p.m. daily

Vegan Commissary, the creative animal-free South Philly eatery at 1703 S 11th St. (215-964-3232), will see growing pains of a sort this fall.

Starting Labor Day, the Commissary will continue to expand its wholesale endeavors along with vegan wedding, shower and other special-event catering, while bringing a tighter in-restaurant focus to breakfast, lunch, and brunch.

And by tighter I mean: No dinner service. For now.

In an email, Commissary owner Steve Laurence explained a need to redirect staff and space resources toward wholesale projects, which had been competing with dinner service even as more stores around Philly picked up the Vegan Commissary line.

Some of the Commissary's most popular brunch items, like Tofu Bacon - already available at Eat-a-Pita on 12th St - as well as Mushroom Scrapple and Tofu Scramble (at Last Drop, 13th & Pine), will "shortly" appear at new Philly locations, Laurence said. So far, the store's baked goods are at all three Good Karma Cafes as well as Down Dog Healing Cafe (10th & Carpenter).

The Commissary's blackboard menu will now also feature items available to take home, such as Veggie Burgers, Green Goddess Dressing, Hollandaise Sauce, Pastries and Desserts. While Laurence expressed appreciation for diners' support and regret at curtailing dinner for the time being, he suggested regulars will now be able to pick up the ingredients to "enjoy at home the flavors we serve here."

Meanwhile, Laurence aims to "serve people more than before with delivery," free to businesses in the East Passyunk area from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays. "The local business community has been very supportive of us," he said, "and we've seen that there are a lot of folks around who want their healthy lunches, fast." To that end the Commissary will be partnering with Spirit Bicycles on a new delivery program, he said, adding that ordering will be available via GrubHub.

For the near future, the restaurant will be open from 12 noon to 4 p.m. weekdays and for brunch on weekends. The daily schedule to be established this fall will expand to breakfast, as follows:

"We will open at 7:30 a.m. serving our freshly baked muffins, scones, cinnamon buns and more from Pastry Chef Meagan Benz. At 10 a.m. our Daily Brunch Menu will be available featuring our best-selling pancakes and an expanded menu of scrambles, breakfast sandwiches and specials from Chef Damian Patterson, Jr.

Weekday hours will be 7:30 a.m. - 4 p.m., Monday thru Friday. Our full Brunch Menu will be available 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday."

The Commissary will now be more able to work in special-occasion cakes and catered meals among its projects, while keeping the dinner hour clear for private parties and special events of its own - even what might be called Very Special Events.

"We're settling on a date now," Laurence said, "for a collaborative dinner with Mark Mebus [of Daily News award-winning Blackbird Pizzeria]. He'll be here guest-cooking with our chef," he noted as part of a growing "series of fun things that we like to do."

If the various wholesale threads get hammered into a routine that allows enough room, Laurence said that "we'll do all we can" to get regular dinner service back.