Pop-Ups, Food Trucks, and Coffee Cups: Mat Falco
BEFORE BECOMING A COFFEE SHOP OWNER, Herman’s Mat Falco was already something of a coffee shop expert. “As a publisher, I didn’t have an office, so I worked out of coffee shops all the time. Building Herman’s was kind of a way to make office space for myself,” he says. In 2017, when Herman’s opened, Falco was running Philly Beer Scene, an independent magazine he created nearly a decade earlier.
But the magazine faded away as Herman’s took off. From the beginning, Herman’s wasn’t just a spot to grab a cup of joe. “I wanted it to be a place for small businesses helping each other, for creating community,” he says.
That meant partnering with food trucks, which would roll up alongside Herman’s funny concrete island in Pennsport, a strip of pavement flanked by 3<sup>rd </sup>Street on one side and East Moyamensing on the other. The coffee shop lives in a converted garage, with both sides of the café open to the outside via big garage doors.
Falco has never charged anyone a fee to vend at his shop. He welcomed the trucks with open arms (and sidewalks). He felt like it was an opportunity to share customers and cross-promote his brand. In the early days, that meant trucks like Burrito Feliz would pull up and people would grab a bite, a cappuccino, and a seat at the picnic-style tables and chairs inside the shop or the red-and-white lawn chairs whose image serves as Herman’s brand logo.
The name of the shop, the garage, and this iconic piece of outdoor furniture all refer to Herman, Falco’s grandfather, who he remembers as a constant presence inside his own garage—perched on a lawn chair.
By the start of 2020, Herman’s had found its groove as a beloved neighborhood coffee shop, so much so that Falco was pondering a second location. You know what happened next.
“No matter what, people still buy coffee,” recalls Falco. As the pandemic took its toll, “We were OK. It was the restaurants and food businesses I was worried about.” The story of how he transformed the interior of his coffee shop into one of the city’s best gourmet markets is well known. You probably already buy tinned fish, pasta imported from Italy, bean-to-bar chocolate, and non-alcoholic spirits there. But the story of how Falco jumped into action to help the local food community isn’t as familiar.
It’s hard to remember now, but in the spring of 2020 even food trucks were shut down for two months. Coffee shops were still allowed to operate. Groceries, prepared food, and meal kits were OK to sell. Falco bought a small food cart, put it inside Herman’s, and allowed chefs and other food businesses to sell meal kits and whatever else they could legally sell from there. For some, it was a lifeline.
“No matter what, people still buy coffee,” recalls Falco. “We were OK. It was the restaurants and food businesses I was worried about.”
As restrictions eased, Falco made his food cart available to almost any chef who asked—even if their restaurant was just a vague business plan or even a dream. “People reached out over Instagram to ask for time slots,” he says. He didn’t charge a vending fee. He didn’t charge for setting up or for providing cooking fuel, which could be expensive. Thanks to the many collaborations and pop ups that happened in that space, Philadelphia got its first taste of Taco Heart’s breakfast tacos, Tabachoy’s Filipino food, and Paffuto’s Italian eats.
“When Taco Heart was here, the line was incredible. People snaked all the way around the building, down the street, and around the block,” he recalls.
Falco doesn’t want to take credit for the things he’s done to help start businesses and keep chefs working during those tough times. “I’ve always decided what to do based on what I thought would be fun,” he says. “I like getting to know chefs and food people.”
Looking ahead, he’s not sure where Herman’s is going next—at least he’s not saying. “I have ideas and plans, I’m just not ready to talk about them yet.”
Though stay-at-home orders are now in the distant past, Herman’s shelves of gourmet groceries still stand where the picnic tables used to be. “The market isn’t going away,” says Falco. However, he is exploring ways to bring some seating back inside. Whatever awaits us over the horizon, Falco can only say that two things will guide it: community and fun.
