An Essex Street Market “Talk & Taste” event about the baking industry in New York City
Baking is literally our bread and butter in New York City making up the majority of food manufacturing businesses within the five boroughs. On December 8th, 2016 at the Essex Street Market, members of the public joined us for a taste of bagels and fresh bread and a behind-the-scenes look at the baking industry. Guest speakers included Lee Wellington, Executive Director of the Urban Manufacturing Alliance, Gene Davidovich, CEO of Davidovich Bakery, Uliks Fehmiu, Co-Founder & President of Pain D’Avignon, and the general manager from the new bread-themed Eataly NYC Downtown location. Moderator Cindy VandenBosch of Turnstile Tours interviewed panelists about what it takes to operate a food production and distribution business in New York City and the unique role public markets – like Essex Street Market – play in supporting the baking industry. This event was organized by Cindy VandenBosch and Lauren Margolis of the Essex Street Market Vendors Association.
If you missed the event, you can watch the whole discussion on below or on our Facebook page.
Alternatively, you can follow the live tweeting from the event to catch the highlights:
.@PainDavignonNYC co-fdr Uliks Fehmiu modestly states how he got into baking "I guess I had a little bit of talent & a little bit of taste"
— Turnstile Tours (@TurnstileTours) December 9, 2016
Gene Davidovich of @bestbagel: By questioning what we saw and learning the history of bagels, we made a unique product @EssexStMarket
— Turnstile Tours (@TurnstileTours) December 9, 2016
The bakery is the backbone of #EatalyDowntown supplying all of our restaurants with freshly baked bread daily.@TurnstileTours @EssexStMarket
— Eataly NYC Downtown (@EatalyDowntown) December 9, 2016
.@UMfgAlliance: Baking industry is reliant on very local talent, providing opportunities to workers, esp. new Americans @EssexStMarket
— Turnstile Tours (@TurnstileTours) December 9, 2016
.@PainDavignonNYC: The founders have done all the jobs in the bakery, so we want to built a company that we'd want to work in @EssexStMarket
— Turnstile Tours (@TurnstileTours) December 9, 2016
.@bestbagel: A bagel needs to ferment for 18-24 hours, meaning you need a lot of refrigeration space @EssexStMarket
— Turnstile Tours (@TurnstileTours) December 9, 2016
.@EatalyDowntown has a runaway hit in "pizza all pala," the first pizza by the slice at Eataly, allowing them to hire 5 more pizza makers
— Turnstile Tours (@TurnstileTours) December 9, 2016
.@UMfgAlliance: Public markets provide "step-up spaces" to bakers, so they can grow incrementally and meet their space needs @EssexStMarket
— Turnstile Tours (@TurnstileTours) December 9, 2016
We try and marry #Italy with #American sustainability using @wildhivefarm & @MulinoMarino flour! Talking about bread with @TurnstileTours
— Eataly NYC Downtown (@EatalyDowntown) December 9, 2016
.@UMfgAlliance: Bread and tortillas are the biggest manufacturing biz in NYC, yet often people don't think of baking as manufacturing
— Turnstile Tours (@TurnstileTours) December 9, 2016
Due to high gluten needs for bagels, @bestbagel uses 1 flour source, while @PainDavignonNYC is experimenting w/ local & heirloom varieties
— Turnstile Tours (@TurnstileTours) December 9, 2016
Uliks @PainDavignonNYC: My daughter is allergic to wheat & my wife is gluten free, so I embrace awareness of what's in our food & allergies
— Turnstile Tours (@TurnstileTours) December 9, 2016
Great audience question: with cost challenges of manufacturing in NYC, how do you keep bread cheap and available as a staple? @EssexStMarket
— Turnstile Tours (@TurnstileTours) December 9, 2016
.@bestbagel: As a retailer, bread is a cheap item that gets your customers to come in every day, and buy something else too @EssexStMarket
— Turnstile Tours (@TurnstileTours) December 9, 2016
Thank you SO MUCH to the amazing staff of @EssexStMarket & @NYCEDC for making tonight's Talk & Taste on NYC bakeries a success!
— Turnstile Tours (@TurnstileTours) December 9, 2016