$60 for a loaf? New York bakery has customers lining up
RYE, a popular new bakery in New York opened by Austrian baking family Martin Auer, specializes in 100 percent rye sourdough bread. Captured from BuzzFeed Tasty's social media account
NEW YORK — Korea may have its bread pilgrimages, but Manhattan has taken the bakery craze to another level: $60 for a single loaf of rye bread.
RYE by Martin Auer, an Austrian bakery that opened in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood in September, has quickly become one of the city's most talked-about new food destinations, drawing crowds and widespread media attention for its unusually expensive sourdough rye bread.
The 3.3 pound (1.5 kilogram) loaf costs $60 (80,000 won), while customers can purchase half a loaf for $30 or a quarter for $15.
Located on Lafayette Street, the bakery specializes in just one type of bread. Its minimalist interior looks more like a high-end retail showroom than a traditional bakery, with customers able to watch the bread-making process.
The bread contains just three ingredients: organic rye flour, water and salt. According to the bakery, the dough undergoes a fermentation process lasting up to 24 hours, using a sourdough starter more than 50 years old.
But the price has raised eyebrows, particularly because a comparable loaf from the same bakery sells for roughly $16 in Austria.
The bakery says the higher New York price reflects the cost of importing ingredients from Austria, the labor involved in making the bread and Manhattan's high operating expenses.
The hefty price tag has sparked criticism and jokes on social media, with some questioning whether any bread is worth $60.
The attention, however, has also brought customers through the door. The bakery reported nearly selling out of its bread daily shortly after opening, as curious New Yorkers lined up to see what made the loaf so special.
The craze may sound familiar to South Koreans, where “ppangji sullye,” or bread pilgrimages, have become popular among bakery enthusiasts willing to travel long distances and wait in line for famous baked goods.
At $60 a loaf, the New York bakery is testing just how much customers are willing to pay for bread.