Acclaimed baker Tova Du Plessis, struggling with personal, legal, and financial pressures, has closed Essen Bakery and is now considering bankruptcy as the next step, writes Michael Klein for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Du Plessis, a four-time James Beard Award nominee, and her husband announced six months ago that their shop, with locations on East Passyunk Avenue in South Philadelphia and Berks Street in Kensington, will be closing temporarily. The shop never reopened after the May 31 announcement, leaving roughly two dozen employees in the lurch. In July, she told an interviewer that she and her husband, Brad, were “navigating deeply personal challenges” and had planned to reopen in September.

Du Plessis said closing the shop permanently has not been an easy decision.

“I don’t think that I can really pull off what I need to — not just to be open, but to make it financially sustainable,” she said. “There always was that potential, but after what I experienced, I just don’t have the confidence, the headspace, and the people in place.”

Facing financial pressure from a landlord threatening a lawsuit over unpaid rent and overdue loan payments, she believes filing for bankruptcy is now her best option.

Read more about the unfortunate closure of Essen Bakery and the events that led to it in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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