The art of the 'sell out'
The art of the 'sell out'
Is it better for a bagel place to sell out early or meet demand where it's at?
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It’s becoming an all-too-common experience to wait in line for a good bagel only to find out that you’ve done so in vain. Anyone who has read my Howdy Bagel reviews knows how much I’ve struggled with the notion. I was incredulous at the time, feeling like this just isn’t something that happens back East.
I may owe the guys at Howdy a bit of a mea culpa because my plans while in New York City had to be altered on one occasion due to a massive line (Absolute Bagel) and I didn’t even bother trying to get through the line for wildly popular PopUp Bagel.
Waiting in line to buy bread products has become something of a national pastime in the Instagram Era. I’ve often wondered if it’s because people think the end product is really worth it or because the Likes and Hearts for sharing photos on their social media profiles were the real payoff.
Regardless, trendy bagel places have been more than happy to let people wait for hours outside their shops just for the chance to get their hands on a bread circle.
One such place is Mt. Bagel, the once and future king of the Seattle bagel scene. When they returned, it wasn’t a question of whether or not there would be a line to get one of their bagels, it was a matter of how long that line might stretch by the time you got there. Waking up early just to make sure you’re in line 45 minutes before the bagel shop opens is just something many of us have come to accept as the cost of doing business. And if you got there late (11:00 a.m.) and they had already sold out, well, that’s on you.
While you might assume Mt. Bagel would be over the moon with the situation, where demand far exceeds supply, it turns out that owner Roan Hertzog seems intent on changing the status quo.
“Hey everybody - First off, a sincere thank you for consistently selling us out of bagels day after day since we reopened in June! We are so thrilled and so honored to be baking bagels for you fine folks,” reads Mt. Bagel’s Instagram post from Wednesday. “Wanted to let you know that we’ve managed to bump our Friday and Saturday numbers up a bit. Hopefully this means more bagels for more people:)
”Selling out is always a nice feeling, but so is getting a bagel when you come to the bagel shop. If you’ve been skunked in the past, this might be your week. If you still don’t get a bagel, just know we’re working on it!!!”
That might seem like an obvious statement from a business owner, but in the world of bagel shop hype, it’s a refreshing change of pace. Instead of accepting that long-line frustrations and disappointment are just part and parcel of how you keep the social media hype going, it sounds like Mt. Bagel would much rather just put a bagel in everyone’s hands.
Not everyone in the industry is going to agree with the strategy. The IG account for Hey Bagel, a new bagel company from Rubinstein Bagel founder Andrew Rubinstein, responded to Mt. Bagel’s missive saying that it’s nuanced.
“It’s a hard balance. You’re blessed you’re in such demand, but I get it. Waste also sucks and I hope you’re customers will understand that the last thing you want to do is waste. You’re providing the area a great product which elevates their day, makes a difference in their lives. Keep on going. Good work,” read the comment.
Hey Bagel is still in the pop-up stage but they’ve gone out of their way to build hype, which has led to long lines, which has in turn led to some people not getting anything for their troubles.
It’s a fair take. Mt. Bagel has the kind of built-in reputation and hype that 90% of the bagel shops out there would kill for. People are going to line up outside every morning for the foreseeable future even if they never change a thing.
The flip side is that you could make the case that, eventually, the hype runs out. And then what are you left with? Maybe you keep a steady base of loyal customers. Or maybe you’ve alienated enough people who don’t care enough to wait in line for an hour for a bagel with cream cheese that your customer base has dried up.
As for worrying about waste, those of us who have waited in line for Mt. Bagel know that’s not really a concern for them. They’re not in danger of being left sitting on dozens of bagels each day. If anything, they could up their production quite a bit and still probably sell out most days. And even if they did have leftovers, they could make like Bagel Oasis and donate them to food banks.
Ultimately, I remain torn on the whole thing. On one hand, it’s gotta be pretty exciting as a business owner to know that people are going to line up in droves just for the chance to sample your wares.
On the other hand, speaking for myself, there are only so many times I’ll wait in line for a product, especially if that product doesn’t blow my socks off. Perhaps I’m not the target audience for those kinds of things. But I’m also the kind of person who loves bagels and is always looking for the next great one. I respect that sometimes you have to wait for the best version of something, but even I have my limits. To say nothing of the casual bagel enthusiast.
I appreciate Mt. Bagel’s recognition that there’s a middle ground to be found in this great debate, but I can also respect that not every bagel place has the built-in reputation to pull it off.
I’d love to hear what you think about all of this too, especially if you’ve ever found yourself waiting in line for a bagel that was sold out before you got there. Sound off in the comments below.
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I am just not going to stand in line for 45 minutes or an hour for a bagel. I like bagels and reading about bagels but I just haven't found the magic bagel that would entice me to line up for that long. I've lined up for maybe 30 minutes when traveling somewhere famous for bagels (Beigel Bake in London, for example) and while they were good, I'd only return if the line was short. And maybe I'm a philistine but I think that even the day old versions of the Little Market bagels are better than most of the bagels I've had in Seattle.
I have to say that I still miss the Bagel Deli, partly because they had great bagels and bagel sandwiches AND partly because they were my neighborhood spot. For me, it's also about experiencing something that's of that neighborhood, whether it's my own or one I'm visiting while traveling.