Self-Service

Automat-inspired Brooklyn Dumpling Shop opens in Philadelphia

Image: Brooklyn Dumpling Shop

December 27, 2023

Brooklyn Dumpling Shop, an automated restaurant based on the iconic Automat, recently opened its first location in Philadelphia, the city that hosted the birth of the historic Automat.

The recent Philadelphia opening, nearly two years after Brooklyn Dumpling Shop's first opening in Manhattan in 2021, was featured in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Philadelphia franchisees Nick Sordoni, Stephen Hudacek and Alex Flack, none of whom have food industry experience, plan to have at least 30 Brooklyn Dumpling Shops in Philadelphia and Camden County, New Jersey.

The historic Horn & Hardart Automat opened its first restaurant in Philadelphia in 1888 and grew to 157 restaurants in Philadelphia and New York.

The last Horn & Hardart Automat restaurant closed in 1991 in Manhattan.