Lyn's food truck delays opening to October, sparking confusion among students

Lyn's, a popular food cart near Penn's campus known for its breakfast offerings, has delayed its semesterly reopening until October. 

The cart, which is located on the 3600 block of Spruce Street, is beloved by Penn students, and its delayed opening has left customers confused and disappointed. Though the truck has been closed since students arrived on campus for the fall semester, Lyn's announced the delay in a Sept. 10 post on its Instagram.

In the post, Lyn's wrote that it is grateful for the messages it has received, but is taking time off and plans to return in October.

"We miss you and [are] looking forward to serving you one sandwich at a time," it wrote.

The stand is well known throughout the Penn community, with Engineering sophomore Lori Brown saying that  she found out about Lyn’s through “word of mouth and mutual friends.”

In Lyn's absence, a new truck has taken over her typical spot at the corner of 36th and Spruce streets — a change that has prompted confusion among patrons. 

"I’ve gone to the cart that used to be in Lyn's spot a couple of times. The lady is different, and the menu is slightly off,” College and Wharton sophomore Austin Yuan told The Daily Pennsylvanian, adding that it took him a while to realize that Lyn was no longer at the helm. 

“It was the same menu [and] the same product in the same place," he said. "So I was like, maybe they're just working together. But I don’t think they are."

The cart's temporary closure has left a gap in Penn's food scene among students who trusted the shop as an affordable option in their daily routine. Lyn's also holds additional significance for some community members — with Yuan telling the DP that it was "a little tradition" in one of his Chinese classes to visit the cart. 

“After our Monday through Thursday classes, we would always go whenever we had some free time and cash in our pockets," he said. "Without her, we have stopped this tradition.”