Mac Mart Wasn’t Even Supposed to Be Open During the Philly Boycott Ride. Here’s Why It Was

Q&A Mac Mart Wasn’t Even Supposed to Be Open During the Philly Boycott Ride. Here’s Why It Was Hours after the controversial ride ended, we spoke with owner Marti Lieberman about her decision to do business on Sunday, and where we go from here. By Victor Fiorillo · 11/8/2026, 9:00 p.m. Mac Mart owner Marti Liberman, whose business was targeted by the Boycott Ride in Philadelphia on Sunday, November 8th / Photograph courtesy of Marti Lieberman/Mac Mart Early last week, a social media flyer emerged announcing Boycott Ride, a bicycle ride scheduled for Sunday in Philadelphia that was targeting certain Jewish-owned businesses. This included Mac Mart, a tiny kiosk operation at 18th and Arch that specializes in mac-and-cheese creations. On Sunday afternoon, after the Boycott Ride was over — police reported three arrests: for assault, disorderly conduct, and assault on police – we caught up with Mac Mart owner Marti Lieberman, a Drexel grad who started the small business in 2013. Hi, Marti. I guess you’ve had a much longer week than most people in Philadelphia. I have never lived through anything like this in my life. When did the Philly Boycott Ride come onto your radar? I think on November 4th. I believe that’s when I saw the flyer. Someone had sent it to me. I didn’t make a thing of it. I just thought, this is weird . I hadn’t heard anything about it. I didn’t know how legit it was. Have you shared any opinions or beliefs previously that might have made you one of the six restaurants targeted in the Boycott Ride? I have never, and I will never. I have never mixed religion — my religion, anyone else’s religion, any politics, anyone else’s politics, nothing — with Mac Mart. Mac Mart was made to feed everyone mac and cheese. I don’t care what your background is — your race, your ethnicity, your ideology. It doesn’t matter to me and it doesn’t have a place in business. When did you actually get concerned? Once I actually read the sign and other things online … I’m Jewish. I’ve gone to Jewish private school my entire life. I went to Jewish elementary school. My grandfather founded a Jewish school. So I knew right away that the look and aesthetic of this flyer was very reminiscent of Nazi propaganda. I also knew that it was the eve of Kristallnacht, which is the Night of Broken Glass, which is where they literally went to Jewish businesses and vandalized them and assaulted them. And I didn’t like that I was called a disgusting human and that my business needs to be gone. There were so many things about this flyer that just didn’t sit well with me. A bunch of people I know saw it and then showed me more things about it in Facebook groups and all this, and then it just kind of started to spread like wildfire. When did the Boycott Ride start to take over your life? On the 5th. I started getting all of these messages of hope and support. I thought, first of all, this is scary. I thought, What’s going to happen? A flyer promoting the Boycott Ride in Philadelphia that targeted certain Jewish-owned businesses Were you getting messages other than those of hope and support? Yes, but they’re so asinine. Everything that people wrote that was hurtful or harmful or against us had insane inaccuracies. A bunch of people said that I’m Israeli. I was born in Montgomery County! My mom was born in Cheltenham! My family lineage is not Israeli. If anything, we are Eastern European. I wear a Star of David. That’s about it. I believe everywhere in the world has a right to exist. I believe every human being as a right to exist. That’s my blanket statement on that. Do you have any idea how you and Mac Mart even got brought into this? Someone said somewhere that my sister had made some sort of reference to Zionism at one time. And they saw my Star of David. But I don’t know. I’m not in the minds of those who created this flyer. I don’t think like those who created this flyer. I saw that your operating hours at the kiosk are just Monday to Friday. So why were you even open today during the Boycott Ride? People kept saying, Show them! Stand up for what you believe! Don’t cower! I’m very proud to be Jewish. I’m not going to cower and be scared when I’m just existing. If you’re gonna try to intimidate us, we have a lot of people that would like us to be open and support us. And we’re just putting out a positive message. Did you hire security? No. But we were called and contacted by several people and groups saying the security would be around, and we felt it. At one point, there were 15 cops outside of our kiosk, and they were talking with us, joking with us, having some food. They were wonderful. I saw that your lines were crazy, as were those at the other targeted restaurants. We were totally overwhelmed. Totally. People showed up for us, and we’re very, very thankful. So can you take a day off tomorrow to recuperate? No! I have to be in the kitchen and prep so that I can do catering on Tuesday and I also have to be at the kiosk. But I am going to sleep past 5 a.m. Hopefully. Did you actually see any of the bicyclists who were part of the Boycott Ride? We got a heads up when they were coming down to 18th and Arch. At that time, our line was very full and vibrant and lively. They rode their bikes down. Police were in front and in back. And our supporters made a wall. They were cheering and screaming positive things at them. You can’t even see their faces. They wear masks. It wasn’t worth our time to give them any attention. There are more than a few people out there who have suggested that this would have amounted to nothing but that the media made a huge thing out of it. The story was all over the place. Do you feel like the media did wrong here by giving attention to it? I think it’s important that people all over the world know what’s happening to all different groups of people right now. It deserved to be called out. You can’t just go around bullying businesses because you don’t agree with what you think are their politics. Like, no one bothers to ask us what we feel, what blah, blah, blah, you know, A, B, and C. They just, they just say what they think it is, they use it as fact, and then they create something that seems violently aggressive. And, you know, if you wanna to boycott something, don’t go. That’s how that works. Not threaten them and intimidate them and scare them and call them names. I don’t engage with people who behave like that. My business doesn’t engage with people who behave like that. And I think it showed today, you know, the people who rallied for us were of every nationality and religion. They were of every background. They were polite. They were calm, they were positive. Do you have any closing words on what we might take away from this and how we can move forward? Lead with kindness. This thing is wild, but we’re walking away from it in a positive light and with a lot of supporters, and we know who we are and that’s what matters. Read More About: Bad Behavior Israel Protests Victor Fiorillo Senior Reporter at Philadelphia Magazine @phillyvictor [email protected] You Might Also Like How to Deal With Inevitable Election Day Problems in Pennsylvania Philly Homeowners Have More Equity Than They Did Five Years Ago. Now What? A Philly Mag Guide to the LeBron Era