In a city like New York it doesn't take long for word to get out about anything but once people learned that colorful rainbow bagels were up for grabs from Brooklyn bakery, there was a run on the place. Instagram was flooded in turn: photos of the brightly colored bagels and the lines at the bakery serving cropped up everywhere. While it definitely didn't hurt publicity and sales, the demand quickly became too much for the owners to handle, especially since they also ship their goods worldwide.
So it came as a shock to fans everywhere when on Tuesday, The Bagel Store announced on Facebook that it would be closing temporarily. "Renovations. We're making some at our 349 Bedford location," the announcement reads. "So unfortunately we will be closed indefinitely. We're working 24/7 on this but we will keep everyone updated via social media!"
The shop's marketing coordinator Francine LaBarbara has told Buzzfeed that it "hopes to reopen within the next couple of days." Apparently, they just were not prepared for the high demand and need a few days to catch up, especially on online orders, which have been halted since they have received over 1,000 of.
"We can only ship so many a day," LaBarbara explained. "It's not a mass production, and that's what the beauty and specialty of it is."
As a bakery with a mom-and-pop nature, they never expected people to actually come and wait over two hours for their bagels. The store's owner Scot Rossillo hand-rolls each and every bagel, so it's been extra tough on him. "It's a labor of love for Scot," LaBarbara added. "He just loves to creates, and he won't to anything to jeopardize the integrity of his product. It's been really crazy. But good crazy."
The madness all really started when Business Insider's INSIDER Food posted a video of the bagels being made and people's minds were blown.
"We got slammed like you cannot believe," LaBarbara told Gothamist. "I haven't slept in a couple of weeks...Business Insider put us over the top."
They only make about 800 Rainbow Bagels each day, and have sold out every single day for the past several weeks.
"I'm either the most loved or hated woman in Brooklyn," LaBarbara added. "We needed to revisit everything that's happening, to make the shop better...We really needed to take a second to regroup, and we can't wait to open the Bedford location to alleviate things. Everything had to be redone, to make sure we were okay. It's just really basic maintenance."
On Thursday, Rossillo posted a photo of the now-famous bagels to Twitter writing, "We are almost at the end of our renovations here at 349 Bedford Ave." He then posted a link to Buzzfeed's article writing, "Not to worry, we are just renovating and will be open soon."
In the meantime, if you need your Rainbow Bagel fix, their second location on 754 Metropolitan Ave is still up and running.
Brooklynites are losing their minds over this spectacular rainbow bagel.
Posted by INSIDER food on Tuesday, February 2, 2016
