Koch’s Deli has reopened in West Philly — with a side order of litigation

The meat and cheese slicers are spinning and lox is on the cutting board again at the landmark Koch’s Deli in West Philadelphia, a year after the city Health Department ordered its shutdown under previous management.

Koch’s reopened on Nov. 15 under Bing Li, who bought the takeout deli and building in late 2020 from the longtime partnership that had taken it over from the Koch family.

Meanwhile, Common Pleas Court — not a deli scale but the scales of justice — has been asked to determine the rightful owner of the Koch name.

Li — who paid $625,000 for the building and the business at 4309 Locust St., according to city records — said he did not intend to operate the deli, which was founded by the Koch family in 1966.

After refurbishing the space, Li leased it to Morshed Ali Alqaifi in late 2021. By mid-2023, Alqaifi owed $18,000 in rent, according to Municipal Court records, and Li began eviction proceedings. In November 2023, health inspectors reported finding no hot water, inadequate refrigeration, and evidence of rodents, and ordered Koch’s closed.

Alqaifi signed a judgment, allowing him to step away without repaying the back rent, according to court records. A month later, Alqaifi leased a space at 622 Market St., near Independence Mall, and put up signs that it would open as Koch’s Deli.

Alqaifi had contended that he had the right to use the name. Li went to Common Pleas Court in March and obtained a preliminary injunction to block Alqaifi from using it. Alqaifi then renamed it BOP Kosh Deli. But in August, Pennsylvania Supreme Court lifted the injunction and sent the case back to Common Pleas, where it awaits a hearing.

The BOP Kosh name remains on the Market Street deli owned by Alqaifi, who declined to comment. His attorney, Peter Mylonas, did not reply to repeated requests for comment.

If there are any similarities between the two shops, it’s the menu. Both share a list of sandwich names dating back to the days when brothers Bob and Lou Koch ran the deli, a favorite of the University of Pennsylvania community. The Bob Koch, for example, layers roast beef, turkey, chopped liver, and onions on rye.

Koch’s opened in 1966 on a tree-lined rowhouse block of family-owned businesses topped by apartments. A year later, after founder Sid Koch was injured in a car wreck, he and his wife, Frances, gave the business to sons Lou and Bob, who routinely kibbitzed with waiting customers while handing out samples. “More meat for less bread” was the slogan; according to legend, a customer once dislocated his jaw while trying to wrangle a sandwich.

After the deaths of Lou (1995) and Bob (2005), their brother Barry sold the deli and building to Ezra Haim, the Main Line deli owner who had catered Bob’s funeral, and his friend Rami Shabbat. Koch’s rolled along for 15 years until Li bought it.

After Alqaifi left, Li said he replaced the equipment, deep-cleaned the space, and performed repairs. On Nov. 15, Haim himself was behind the counter, helping to train staff in the art of stacking slices of corned beef and mounding coleslaw atop a slice of rye bread before it could topple. Customers stopped by, like Tasha Terrell, who lives a block away and said she has been ordering from Koch’s since 1990.

“It is so good here,” said Terrell, who would say only that she is “40-something” and favors the turkey hoagies. “They really fill up the sandwiches.”

When Li reclaimed the business, he said he had considered turning it into a Chinese restaurant or bubble tea place. “But then, I looked up all the history and said, ‘I have to keep this,’” he said. “I can’t just take somebody’s memory.”