I was surprised to see on the side of my bagel packet this morning the aftermath of an emotionally charged drama, as heart-wrenching as anything seen since Sophocles.
It appears the New York Bakery Company’s recent habit of pre-slicing the bagels has been discontinued, due to some kind of wild public outcry.
I sincerely hope it wasn’t market research that occasioned this cowardly loss of nerve by everyone’s favourite purveyors of boil ‘n’ bake yeasted wheat rings. I can only hope it was a twitterstorm or some kind of Occupy Movement sit-in that prompted this humiliating volte face. Perhaps they saw this and took it the wrong way:
Call me weird, but I couldn’t help checking out how the Rotherham-based bakers’ website handled the climb-down. Here’s what they say:
Dear Bagel Fans
We have been listening to your feedback about our recent decision to stop slicing our Plain [capital ‘p’ – are you sure? Ed] bagels. We’re sorry that some of you are disappointed with our decision – trust us, it wasn’t taken lightly.
But we know that pre-slicing affected the quality of our bagels and here at New York Bakery Co. that’s what we’re all about, no compromise.
That’s why our original, unsliced bagel is back. We just wanna make the best bagels we can.
They wanna and they’re gonna. And I gotta say, I’m glad they did it.
And if you’re going to do it, do it with the chutzpah for which New Yorkers – and people who live in Rotherham – are renowned. Cos they ain’t slicing nothing no more. The customer is always right.
Strangers on the Shore 
The customer is wrong!! Sliced bagels were the best thing ever. Peel apart, put in toaster, butter and eat. Now we are back to hacking open the bagel unevenly, crumbs everywhere and one half always being burnt as it is thicker than the other side. I think a demonstration is in order with banners reading WE WANT CUTS. I know 3 people who would join the cause!!
Number one fan of sliced bagals
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Jackie – you are so right!! Come and join the ‘cut’ campaign at http://www.facebook.com/bringtheslicedonesback
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Their old approach just wasn’t cutting it anymore … their innovation was so rated as to be worth doing. It obviously had NOTHING to do with saving money … but did they perhaps also make the hole 1mm bigger?
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