Looks Like Another Okemos Restaurant is Closing Its Doors

Another area restaurant is closing its doors for good this weekend.

102 Pho & Banh Mi on Marsh Road in Okemos will lock up for the last time at 8pm this Saturday, October 15.

Get our free mobile app

The owner of 102 Pho & Banh Mi posted this message on the restaurant's Facebook page:

It is with a very heavy heart that we announce the PERMANENT CLOSING of 102 Pho & Banh Mi - Vietnamese Noodle Soups & Sandwiches in Okemos, Michigan. A great sadness takes over deeply as we realize we will never serve another bowl of homemade-tasting Pho; or a freshly daily-baked Vietnamese sandwich; or the deep-fried hand-rolled Vietnamese egg rolls and spring rolls that many have come to love. We are extremely humbled that so many embraced our restaurant and that we were able to succeed as long as we had. For a restaurant to survive and thrive in the face of great adversity like a global pandemic is an accomplishment of which we can all be proud. And we could not have done it without all of you!

From the 102 family and staff, and myself personally, please accept our most sincerest heart-felt thank you for a brief journey yet so wonderfully lasting.

No specific reason was given for the restaurant's decision to close now, but its website offers a few clues to the struggle it's been experiencing in recent months.

102 Pho & Banh Mi was closed for more than two weeks in July due to what it called an "unexpected interruption of supplies to some of the key ingredients for our famous in-house freshly baked Vietnamese baguette", causing its trademark Vietnamese sandwiches to become temporarily unavailable. Its home page mentions a staffing shortage, and just last month the restaurant communicated to its customers via Facebook that it would have to close early on Labor Day Weekend due to staffing problems.

Throngs of customers posted messages of disappointment upon learning the restaurant would be closing, wishing the owners of 102 Pho & Banh Mi success in their next venture.

The restaurant had been open in Okemos for almost three years.