Bruegger’s CEO Responds to Midtown Lunch’ers
You guys had a lot to say about the news that Bruegger’s bagels was planning on opening stores in Manhattan… and the CEO has responded in the comments: “I am the CEO of Bruegger’s and would like to respond. As for research, these comments confirmed our the work we did – Manhattanites are very opinionated about bagels. This is why we are not looking to displace your local favorites by entering neighborhood locations. (Though I am familiar with H&H and Ess-a-bagel and am not conceding that they are better.) As for our product we make our own fresh dough, boil and bake in each location in small batches so the bagels are fresh and hot. Our bagels have won “best of” awards year after year in cities across the country. We don’t believe bagels (or, for that matter, any food) should be “oversized”. We pride ourselves on offering healthy, wholesome food, in a warm, inviting atmospere with great guest service. And while we are known for our bagels we offer much more – sandwiches and paninis , hearty soups, fresh tossed salads, organic and fair trade coffee and desserts. Though we are new to Manhattan we have over 30 locations in New York State. We hope we will be as welcomed in Manhattan.”
When you guys speak, rich important people listen!
Posted by Zach Brooks at 2:45 pm, May 6th, 2009 under Bagels.
29 Comments | RSS comments feed for this post
29 Comments
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Listen up, rich, important people: pull the plug on this, while you still can. You don’t stand a chance.
The reason the shitty pizza chains do well in NYC is because you can feed a working-class family of 5 on $10 worth of crap from Papa John’s/Dominoes/Pizza Hut. So they’re able to under-sell the mom and pops next door who sell quality pizza made with real, quality ingredients.
The same does not hold true with bagels. The price break just doesn’t compare.
If you ask me, Bruegger’s is doomed to fail anywhere other than mmmmaybe Times Square, Penn Station and Grand Central.
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CEO of a bagel shop.
The waltons must be shitting themselves.
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Yes, rich important people listen… and then casually disregard everything MLers have to say.
I think that the “Brueggers experiment” will be interesting. It will be a good study in the relative merits of “conventional wisdom” vs “soulless, market research-driven corporate wisdom.” I’m rooting for conventional wisdom. I’m not even remotely a bagel connoisseur, nor am I die hard New Yorker, but I doubt I’d ever set foot in a Brueggers in Manhattan. I’d sooner order from Papa Johns. (Like Chip Beef says, at least I’d save myself some cash.)
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I always like Bruegger’s… for a chain. Can’t touch the neighborhood locations in nyc when you find the right one (like Bagel Mill around 1st ave and 90th st… so good…).
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Hey Bruegger’s CEO…since I gave you some love before I knew you were watching, can you please hook me up with a free bagel sandwich? It’s been years since I’ve had Bruegger’s, and this would be a great gesture on your part to try and lure us Midtown Lunchers into your bagel den of joy for us to see ourselves whether you guys still got it. Deal?
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I think midtown has kind of ruined free food for the midtown luncher after today… a sit-in over bad chicken? Bagels might cause actual riots
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I like Bruegger’s… in Cincinnati. In Seattle.
I like it ANYWHERE I CANNOT GET A DECENT BAGEL OTHERWISE
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The community most associated with bagels is more likely to sue than the one one most associated w/ KFC.
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What coyote said. HOWEVER, they offer a good take on the bagel we don’t get here, really – the Breugger’s bagels I was eating in Durham had a thin, crunchy “crust” with a soft interior, unlike the standard NYC bagel’s softer crust – so it’s going to be a taste preference.
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I see no problem with chain restaruants entering the city. So long as the restaurant provides solid food and service in a clean environment, people will return and the business will remain successfull. Where chains fall short in the city is they slack on hiring quality employees – as such customer services fails and restaruants are kept in poor condition. I love Popeyes, but i won’t eat it in the city because the employees suck and it’s always dirty. Hopefully Brueggers doesn’t let that happen.
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Doug….are you familiar with the phrase ‘citing the fucking obvious?’
Middle management…id throttle the fucking lot of’em
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Just because they are cooked in small batches and are fresh and hot does not make it good bagel. Then again, I see office lemmings buying the so-called bagels (aka mediocre bagel shaped rolls) from Cafe Metro and Food Exchange ,et. al, all the time, so maybe Brueggers will have a chance…
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one more thing, mr. ceo. Please leave the blueberry bagels and chocolate chip bagels in Wichita…
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Brueggers is actually better than most bagels in NYC. They get bagels. But when you find the right bagel spot in NYC, nothing compares. I am a broken record.
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I think NYers like to live in some alternate universe – there are so many BAD bagels in NY. Of course nothing surpasses a great bagel from Murray’s or H&H or Daniels…but please, the stuff you get at most local delis…sad, sad, sad. Hard, oversized, dense, and typically stale. New Yorkers eat a lot of mediocore food. Hello, Subway anyone? Or almost any midtown asianish buffet. Brueggers doesn’t sell itself as anything other than a bakery that makes bagelish shaped breakfast and lunch food.
And don’t get me started on pizza. NY has great pizza but a lot of the stuff is also bad…especially if it comes from a place with “Ray’s” in the name.
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Free market guys… I have been known to walk an extra 8 blocks, each way for H&H westside (the bagel epitome to me)… or go out of my way for Ess-a (too doughy but still very good) but Times Sq is perfect, tourists love to eat what they know…. c’mon there is a Bubba Gump, a Chevy’s Mexican etc… and as someone pointed out… many of the bagels outside the great ones are pretty damn sad.
If Brueggers is foolish enough to open on the Upper West Side they’ll get their sorry butts sent back to the mid west… but mid town is perfect for them
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You people are daft.
Bruegger’s makes the finest bagels I have ever tasted. And their restaurants are spotless, which is more than can be said for 99.9% of the places you people flock to.
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You know you’re having a good day when a profoundly ignorant individual like DocChuck tells you that you are daft. Considering the source, it is a real compliment
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My dearest Fred:
I have a PhD in psychology and am a licensed practitioner. I am more than qualified to make such an observation (though it is painfully obvious even to the untrained eye).
Please refrain from questioning my credentials. It will only lead to painful embarassment for you.
Bruegger’s makes a superioir product. “Nuff said.
Growing up in Rochester all I can say is, I salute you CEO of Bruegger’s!