D.P. Dough, a late-night staple on Drexel’s campus at 3235 Powelton Avenue, is closing today, Jan. 12. The local chain has been a cult favorite among students since it opened in 2019.
Employees were informed of this decision recently, on Jan. 9.
The store’s signature offerings include creative calzones, wings, tots, and other selections designed to appeal to the post-party crowd, with everything made fresh to order.
According to John Hazlett, a fashion design major in the Class of 2026 and the most senior employee at the location, having worked there for three years, the restaurant’s abrupt closure comes amid declining order volume.
“Our orders are way down. We used to get 300 orders in one night. Now, a really busy night is 150, 175,” Hazlett lamented.
The growing reliance on delivery services has also posed a problem.
“The economy’s in shambles… and we get a lot of our orders through DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. They take a massive percentage out of every order,” Hazlett shared in an exclusive interview with the Triangle.
Despite attempts by the owner — Bruce Wray, who also co-owns a West Chester location of the franchise — to refresh the menu with new, exciting calzone options in hopes of reigniting appeal, the changes were not enough to reverse the downward trend in customers.
D.P. Dough’s allure is closely tied to its hours: the store consistently operates from 4 pm to 4 am, which is ideal for students returning from a spirited night out.
“This is drunk people food,” Hazlett affirmed. “The only reason we stuck around this long is because we’re open at 4 a.m. and no one has any other options.”
News of this closure comes just after The Triangle reported that Wawa would be shutting its doors shortly. When asked how Drexel students may react to the shocking information, Hazlett joked, “I was gonna say they’d have to go to Wawa, but not anymore.”
This D.P. Dough location, the only one in Philadelphia after a site on 40th Street closed in 2011, has maintained a steady online presence through social media until recently. Its sudden departure marks yet another disappointing shift in Drexel’s after-hours food scene.