Latest / The Weekly Run / The Freshness Debate | #19
Transcript
- Jeff Perera: Welcome to the Weekly Run, I'm Jeff. Aaron: I'm Aaron. Jeff Perera: and we're talking about what's hot at Jeff's Bagel Run. As this week, the Bagel of the Day lineup is hot. I mean, it's hot. Aaron, have you seen it? Aaron: I would agree. I would agree. I've been talking about this bagel for a couple of weeks and just offhandedly I noticed that maple bacon is closing out the week and I've been waiting for it. I've been waiting for it to come back around. I try not to use my access here at Jeff's Bagel Run to dictate favorite bagels showing up too much. So I just wait patiently and very happy to see that it showed up. So that's just at the end of the week. I mean, there's other great ones coming beforehand. Jeff Perera: The whole week is packed, the whole week is packed full of flavors. So we started off with the jalapeno pepper jack, classic, perennial favorite. This one is very good. And then we go into a cheddar bacon ranch. I, this isn't... Aaron: think I've had that one. Jeff Perera: You missed it the last time, so you can get that one. Aaron: I'm gonna have to sneak in. If you put bacon on it, it's like, it's a done deal. It can't be bad. Jeff Perera: This one you were really upset when it came through the last time you missed it. I highly recommend the Cheddar Bacon Ranch. And then we have Chatfield's Bagel. It's back. If you're not familiar with Chatfield's Bagel, it's a jalapeno bagel topped with honey, salt, black pepper, and cheddar cheese. This one was created by the NHL hockey player Jaylen Chatfield in collaboration with our store team in Wake Forest. This has gone beyond the hometown ⁓ favorite, and is now... Aaron: ⁓ yeah. Jeff Perera: company-wide. And the Carolina Hurricanes are in the NHL playoffs and they are absolutely killing it. They just swept the flyers. Aaron: That present some real challenges for hockey fans in other markets that are sitting here loving this bagel and maybe hating themselves a little bit secretly about supporting a rival bagel. Is there such a thing as rival bagel? I don't know. Is that a thing? Jeff Perera: I mean, listen. Listen, you can, that's what I'm saying. Yeah, there's no such thing as a revival bagel. This was originally adapted as a collaboration with Jeff's Bagel Run to support a local charity. So there's a lot of good behind this bagel, even if it's named after a player that's not on your favorite team. Plus it's Jaylin's birthday this week, so eat the bagel. Aaron: Yeah, I mean... do it from a, just eat the bagel. It's a good bagel. I had it at ⁓ one of our corporate events and it was the first time I'd had it. it's one of those ones, I think it's an example of why I like our Asiago everything bagel so much. It's like anytime that all the, Jeff Perera: Eat the bagel. Just eat the bagel. It's a good bagel. Aaron: cheese and all the spices, know, the seasonings, like when it's just turning into a real confusing mess, like the more confused it is, it's almost like, I'm sure there's a limit. I haven't found it. Like the more stuff that gets thrown on there, I'm like, that's just better. But I think that's what really makes it. And this is a great example. It's like a little sweetened honey. It's got all the pepper and like strong spice flavors. like, it's good. It's a good one. Jeff Perera: Every layer just adds to that umami eventually that you get to when you're eating it. blueberry, every once in a while I'll drop something, make me sound smart. The blueberry muffin bagel is back. Now this was new last month and it is a killer. It is so good. Blueberry bagel topped with a brown sugar and graham cracker crumble and then drizzled with the blueberry icing. This is one of these when you eat it, you think how is this a blueberry muffin? Aaron: It's very shabby of you, I'm glad you said that. Jeff Perera: but how is it so clearly a bagel? It's really good. Aaron: Muffin tart bagels. It's just like eating the muffin tart. Jeff Perera: Yeah, that's 100 % it. We have garlic bread. Garlic bread is, I mean, was a finalist. This is like, it was garlic bread versus banana bread. This is a top of the top. You're talking about second place finisher in bagel madness. This is a good bagel. Spicy Cheez-It. Aaron: Sure. Jeff Perera: doesn't? Okay, first of all, ⁓ not talking about the Cheez-It with a Z. We're talking about like cheese-It, like real cheese. ⁓ ⁓ there's a differentiation, specifically in trademark law. ⁓ ⁓ that we're concerned with that sort of thing, yeah. But the Cheez-It ⁓ is jalapeno bagel ⁓ with little bit of salt ⁓ and pepper cheese. ⁓ So, talking Aaron: Not that we're concerned with that sort of thing. Jeff Perera: a very delicious, delicious bagel. Aaron: Yeah, I like that one too. I like both versions of that. But anytime you can bring out the jalapeno dough. It's just... Jeff Perera: And... ⁓ yeah. It's just levels things up. And we round the week out on Sunday with the maple bacon. This bagel has got your heart, Aaron Aaron: Which... Parking, I've really built this up because I only had it that one time. And I really hope it's kind of like, you you go back and you watch movies from like the 80s, early 90s with your kids and you're so excited. then you're like, wow, this movie is really terrible. What was I thinking? 12 year old me was not a good judge. I'm just so scared. I know it's going to be good, but I built it up so high. Jeff Perera: you See Aaron you need to equate it more to I know but it's gonna be good Think about it like your first Pickleball winner that you had a couple weeks ago where the ball just came off of the paddle and it was like perfectly placed and the opponent Stumbled as they tried to get to it, but couldn't reach it. You just dinked it right in That first that that feeling of that shot when you're like, ⁓ I want to do this over and over and over again Aaron: Yeah. Jeff Perera: That's kind of like where the maple bacon lives, I think, in your mind. It's like, I'm gonna eat. It lives in that zone. It lives in the place of like, I'm gonna keep coming back to this, because I like the feeling I have. Aaron: In that zone. So I'll let you know next week because I am most certainly going to get one. Jeff Perera: Alright, so you're signed up. ⁓ really hot bagels of the day ⁓ to you this week. I can't believe it myself. I think I forgot I built the calendar so good. ⁓ have ⁓ the assistance ⁓ ⁓ ⁓ agent ⁓ ⁓ me ⁓ as a proper ⁓ chef. Aaron: You can tell on time. That's the important part. Jeff Perera: in building LTO planning and bagel all the day calendar months in advance now. So while I still go back and customize each calendar, it's nice to have a framework for brain to work in. Aaron: Yeah, they get a... It's sous chef. It's your robot sous chef. Jeff Perera: Yeah, it's my virtual assistant. It's great. It's great. So the Bagel of the Day calendar is firing on all cylinders this week. Definitely try one. The other thing that I noticed that was hot this week, and it's not specifically at the Bagel Run, but it ties into what we do at the Bagel Run, is this viral pastry. And I don't know if you're seeing this type of content in your feed, but... Aaron: I may not have as a culinary feed as you do. Maybe I should. But I have not seen this yet. Jeff Perera: That's fair. We can work on that. Well, there's this viral spinach and feta pastry or something that was ⁓ being identified by a of content creators as being, sounds really good, it's like this scratch-made pastry that these content creators are finding in all of the same shops. so, the same pastry, yeah. Same pastry in the same shop. And so, a reporter by Emily, named Emily. Aaron: Which sounds good. Okay. Wait, the same one. Like the same pastry. Uh-oh. Jeff Perera: Blouch, Blouch, I'm probably butchering her last name, but Emily, piece of writing, thanks for doing it, with the Philadelphia Inquirer. ⁓ ⁓ out that this was actually a Sysco pastry ⁓ was ⁓ being created and by Sysco. ⁓ So this a scratch made this is a ⁓ frozen, thawed, serve, or thawed heat ⁓ item. ⁓ Aaron: Ohhhh Yeah. Jeff Perera: it kind of begs the question of like, if you're presenting something as scratch made, ⁓ it's not, ⁓ if it's delicious, ⁓ how is that supposed to make you feel a consumer? Aaron: Yeah, that's I was going to say, because the problem isn't necessarily the sourcing of the item. It could be delicious. There's plenty of delicious things that happen at different scales of production. So that's not necessarily the issue. But if you're saying that sort of the gotcha moment with this article is that it was misrepresented at the consumer level, sort of at the local level, then, ooh, yeah, that begs some questions. Like even if you just think about it from a consumer standpoint, how should you feel? How would you feel on the realization that something that you, even if you loved it, like if you realized that you were sort of pitched one thing and reality was different. Jeff Perera: there could be like a level of disappointment, right? In the ⁓ they say ⁓ presenting something and not that. ⁓ I'm of the belief that ⁓ if you're gonna say it's scratch made, then it should be scratch made in the place that you're doing it. everything scratch made somewhere. Nothing's like, this isn't the Jetsons. It's not just like, here's food appearing in a particle something, I don't know, a particle creator. I don't even know what the technology was on the Jetsons. All I know is Judy was always busy. so, she was so, so busy, so busy. ⁓ But I think if I'm a consumer, Aaron: Yeah. Yeah. She was! think it all came out of like her stomach. just like, she just like a door just opened and like a cake came out. Jeff Perera: I want to know where my products come from. And it's okay if it comes from Sysco. Sysco distributes food millions of restaurants, ⁓ and small, all the country, all over the world. ⁓ And lot of the food they deliver is delicious. And there's varying scales ⁓ in in the categories that you can buy from. You can buy a low, medium, high category. You can do so many things. Like we distribute products through Sysco. ⁓ We distribute our cups, ⁓ packaging, distribute, our cream cheese is sourced and distributed through Sysco. You it's not like, ⁓ yeah, ingredients. You ⁓ know, get bags of flour dropped off to our shops every day ⁓ by ⁓ and we the product. So I ⁓ understand where ⁓ the consumer point view coming from, ⁓ but I think there's onus on ⁓ the businesses too. ⁓ Aaron: Ingredients, really. I ⁓ this funny that this is topical, my wife a similar situation where, think it was more the realization of sort of what she thought versus what she's learned. And so she was at this cafe it's it's a one-of-one, all these things. ⁓ And she said a similar thing where they getting a food delivery. ⁓ And ⁓ small place, they kind of have deliver everybody, there's no convenient back door. And so she was just kind of noticing things that she assumed. We're homemade in this cafe or scratch made in the cafe. We're clearly coming in packaged in boxes. And again, you go into other places and you see them take an item out of the package and then put it in the microwave warm before you give to you. That's okay. You know what that is. I see what that is. You know, that's clear. It's fine. So what I'm but she had a different perception. And I think what bothered the most was that that sudden shift in perception and just how important that transparency I think is. with ⁓ your customers, with your brand, what you are, what you do. I think it's kind of on you as a business to build that relationship with the customer. So they feel like they're getting ⁓ what they think they're like as we build this brand, making sure that it's clear what we do, right? What this product is versus what other products are Jeff Perera: For sure, sure, we definitely ⁓ ⁓ exploring this ⁓ for long time and positioning Jeffs Bagel Run. ⁓ You we are scratch-made bagel bakery. ⁓ That's we do. ⁓ We take bagels, we roll them the day before, they cold proof overnight, ⁓ and boil and bake them the next day. And we them all day long so that they can, ⁓ you know, be hot for you when you come in. Hopefully your flavor's hot. ⁓ But yeah, ⁓ it's an interesting dilemma, and it definitely sparked a lot of controversy on the internet. And the internet loves controversy, so. Aaron: That's what it's built for. Jeff Perera: I'm pretty sure that's why they made it right, yeah. Aaron: Yeah, I'm pretty sure. There was something, there was like a science thing they were doing at first and then we just went straight to Jeff Perera: controversy. I mean controversy and aura farming. Those are my two favorite things on the internet. You know. Well. Aaron: Your kids had to teach you what that was and you know it. Jeff Perera: I might have seen it before they did. Aaron: ⁓ no way, well you got younger kids. Jeff Perera: I do have younger kids, they're not as connected. ⁓ Although they do love some YouTube ⁓ also really tied into all that stuff as much as I can ⁓ of my role ⁓ at the Bagel Run. So I try to keep up with trends even though ⁓ feed looks different than my much younger ⁓ media manager counterpart. ⁓ ⁓ is way different than mine. She's also getting married so she's got a bunch of other stuff in her feed. So so interesting how it's... ⁓ Aaron: You get to lead them a little bit. This is true. Jeff Perera: really curated to you. You said you're not seeing culinary related stuff. What do you see in your feed, Aaron? Is that too personal? Aaron: It doesn't take long for it to learn. ⁓ Nothing's ever too personal at the run. Jeff, you know, I like to try and be... It's a safe place. I try to be as transparent as possible whenever I can. Honestly, mine's terrible. Mine, it's whatever hobby I happen to be in, like, ⁓ hey, this is like the fourth of somebody installing tile. Like this just floor tile. Jeff Perera: Hahaha! The Weekly Run is a safe place. We're here amongst our friends. Aaron: I got into woodlaving nonsense one time and there's always sports. And then what I find, you watch a couple of movie clips and they think you just want to watch movie clips for the next, next thing you know, this is like the 500th, you know, excerpt from Game of Thrones they're going to give you. Jeff Perera: Yeah. I've seen that. That's happened to me. I've had to like quickly hustle past movie clips just so they don't... I don't know why... I do. Aaron: Even though you wanna watch him, you're like, wanna watch this but I can't feed the beast. I need to tell it to give me something else. Jeff Perera: No, you can't. I see bagel content. I see golf content. I see a lot of ⁓ aging dad content. You know, I don't know how it knows I'm a 48-year-old dad. You know, but it pumps my algorithm full of that stuff. Aaron: Nice. You know what I hate? I hate when you get something that you like and then for some reason it tries to test you in a different direction and you kind of bite. But then it stops giving you the thing that you liked. For a while I was getting these people that just tell dad jokes. It's just a quick seven second, they'll tell two or three dad jokes and then the clip's done. And I'm like, this is amazing. Don't ever stop giving this to me. And just disappeared. It was a moment in time. I miss it. Jeff Perera: It's hard to get it back too. Aaron: I know. I have no idea who they were. I should have followed when I had the chance, Jeff, and I blew it. Jeff Perera: I think you should probably just go into your browser, search top 100 dad jokes, click on a couple of those links, and then go back to your algorithm and scroll through and see if they don't pop up. Because I feel like your phone knows. Your phone knows. Aaron: There you go. Set the cookies. Hmm. Actually, it's probably listening to me right now. I'm sure that's why it'll be full of it later. Jeff Perera: You have to report back next week if you got dad jokes back into your feed. Yeah, dad jokes back in the feed. Aaron: Yeah, my phone's next to me. Yeah. Yeah. It's going to be all dad jokes and spinach. ⁓ Pastries. That's to be my whole feed. Thanks for this conversation. Jeff Perera: hahahaha ⁓ viral pastries and dad jokes, that's awesome. I mean it could be, could it be worse? Yeah, what else could you need in your life, Aaron? ⁓ We teased last week, ice cream summer, and I'm gonna tease it again because peach and pimento is over, we're sort of in this like... Aaron: That's right, which really, you know, what more could you want? Your feet. I don't... yeah... exactly. Hmm. Jeff Perera: this lull right before the summer LTO comes, but I went out today and I did a content shoot for Ice Cream Summer and I got to eat the cream cheeses again and I am hyped. Aaron: Where did you guys shoot? Where did you guys go to shoot it? Jeff Perera: ⁓ it's down the street at Kirkman, just down the road from the office. Yeah, down the road. I am so, yeah, we do content there. We do everything in that store. Poor Kirkman. But yeah, I absolutely love these cream cheeses. I am so excited. I was sharing them with the team. They were excited. Aaron: That's the show store. It's a content store. Do you have a clear favorite? You don't have to say it, but like, has a clear favorite emerged for you. Jeff Perera: Yes. I have chosen a favorite. ⁓ Aaron: Was there a clear favorite in the store? Jeff Perera: The store team's mixed. They were mixed. So it's not... It's definitely... No, it's definitely gonna be a hit or a miss. It's 50-50 for both of these flavors. I'm hyped about it. I can't wait to talk about it. I think the press release comes out... I don't know. When's the 18th? I think it's the 18th. Is that next Monday? I think it comes out next Monday. So that'll drop. We did a photo shoot with... Yeah, it's so much fun. I can't wait. ⁓ I'm so excited! Aaron: That's what you want. You want like... ⁓ yeah, it is. Jeff Perera: You have no idea. Aaron: exciting. I well okay so what is your now that you've tasted these cream cheeses a handful of times what's the I don't I mean first off I don't know I'd ever say this sentence but what bagel are you thinking you'd recommend for an ice cream flavored cream cheese? Jeff Perera: ⁓ Okay, so I did this. I made this content. Yeah, I made this content today. Lindsay was like, you know, that's fine. No, we'll talk about it. Lindsay said to me, we need to make a bagel pairing video because people are going to ask me, what do I pair with that cream cheese? So we had to get ahead of that because they always do. And I mean, it's a no brainer. Ice cream flavored cream cheese should absolutely go with a cinnamon sugar bagel. 100 % works every time. Plain. Aaron: Like, where should people go? Well, I don't want to jump it then. Yeah. Hmm, that makes sense. Jeff Perera: also works every time. Aaron: Foundation. Jeff Perera: Yeah, base bagel, right? Salt, my personal favorite. The sweet and savory mixing is really nice. Aaron: oooo And that would work, I can see that. Jeff Perera: Highly underrated bagel, period. Let alone for a sweet cream cheese. Sesame. Aaron: because the toastiness, yeah. Jeff Perera: You got it. The toastiness of the sesame seeds on there, it just gives, and there's like a little bit of ⁓ a textural mouthfeel with the seeds as well. get a little bit of that crunchiness. So it's really nice. Yeah, it's really nice. And then I personally think, I layered this in there, maybe somebody's gonna say I'm crazy, but at least with one of the cream cheese flavors that we're dropping this summer, the roasted jalapeno is going to be absolutely, Aaron: Yeah, a little bit of bite. Jeff Perera: Elite pairing combo. Aaron: That's the pa- Wow, okay. So I am a huge- I'm gonna wait for that one. I'll a report back. Jeff Perera: Elite pairing combo. Elite. It's gonna be so good. Maybe it'll be the first time we eat it together on the pot. Aaron: ⁓ Ooh, ooh. I mean, any reason to eat the bagels, just like, I don't. Jeff Perera: Because we're also, I mean, I don't know, we're also getting really close to ⁓ sharing this content on a broader scale. Aaron: We got a very important email this morning regarding that timing. Jeff Perera: Yeah, yeah, it's very close. I know. ⁓ Aaron: I'm excited about it. I need to make a request though before we move on. For you know if we ever do an ice cream flavoring you know second round we need a waffle cone bagel. Jeff Perera: Yeah, tell me. who says that can't happen still. Aaron: my god, Danielle. ⁓ Just the entire operational team. But, scenes that I like to ruin Catrionas life bad marketing ideas, I'll ruin Danielle's life with a bad operational idea. Waffle cone bagel. That should be your base. Jeff Perera: I mean yes, probably. But if I look at- I I could do that in July. Aaron: just saying. Jeff Perera: I could try to work that in. Waffle cone bagel. Aaron: You'll notice that my bright ideas, just for clarity, never have any dependencies on technology when I throw these things out here in these random forums. It's not coincidental, Jeff. Jeff Perera: Aaron, it's such a good idea though. waffle cone bagel. Alright. Aaron: waffle cone bagels which is really just to me that's really like I think you've totally right with the cinnamon sugar that's gonna give you a crunchy sweet sort of base so if you just nudged it with a little bit of caramel you're kind of there but I think just honestly if you could get it to look tan and kind of waffle waffly you know what I mean Jeff Perera: That's not... Yeah. How much how fun ⁓ yeah, that'd be great like we give it like a little waffle imprint Aaron: I don't know how you do it, but like, if you could like, ⁓ come on, come on. Jeff Perera: Have you ever made a grilled cheese in a waffle maker? Aaron: Ugh, no, but I want to now. Wouldn't that make a terrible mess? Jeff Perera: Yeah, it's... ⁓ it's so messy, but it's so good. Aaron: just written the waffle maker and just press it out. All right. I'm to do that tonight. That's, that's amazing. Jeff Perera: Mm-hmm. It's delicious. It's on. Did you ever, okay, so did you ever have one those sandwich makers when you were in college? The grilled cheese sandwich makers? Yeah. Yeah, 100, so the same thing happens with the waffle maker. Aaron: Yes, the pocket maker, a thousand percent. Just, but like little squares, obviously, instead of like triangles. Dude, I ate so many grilled cheese in college. Are you kidding me? I had that sandwich maker and then I would just buy a loaf of bread and a brick of singles, you know, just cheese singles. Five minutes fed. Pennies, pennies per meal. This is perfect. I mean, come on, ramen. I need to boil water, give me a break. Jeff Perera: Just little tiny pockets of cheese, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's so good. Now, I mean, what does a ramen have on a grilled cheese? Nothing. Aaron: That's zero. I like me. I like ramen too. Don't get me wrong, but like I'm making hot sandwiches in this this dorm room It's amazing Jeff Perera: I had a roommate in college who, because they wouldn't allow us to have like a toaster or any kind of appliance, he would make his grilled cheeses with an iron. Aaron: Yeah. ⁓ I can only hope that in the True College experience it was the same iron that he used for his clothes. It was a dual purpose. Great. Great. That makes it better. Jeff Perera: 100%. 100%, yeah. It had a piece of parchment or foil or something and then you peel it off. was so bad. Aaron: ⁓ yeah, like Baker's parchment. Jeff Perera: He would spray the bottom of the iron, like, in foil with like, Pam. Aaron: I it was like Pam. I can only imagine his clothes. Jeff Perera: ⁓ they weren't nice. Aaron: I mean, You couldn't tell. Don't worry. Trust me, grilled cheese sandwiches was not hurtin' this guy's style. Jeff Perera: It's like 1996, Aaron. There was nothing hurting this man's style. Aaron: ⁓ my god. That's so good. That Pantera t-shirt was gonna look the same with grilled cheese on it or not. It didn't matter. Jeff Perera: ⁓ man. 100 % So funny. ⁓ man ⁓ But else anything else on your mind this week Aaron it's kind of a short week I'm headed out of town and then ⁓ I Can't wait to go to National Restaurant Show. Actually. Yeah, let's talk about that. So I think we can wrap up this week I'm gonna report back on My travels I am going to Chicago for the National Restaurant Association restaurant show at the McCormick Center in Chicago, Illinois. Have you ever been to this show? Have you ever been to... Aaron: So cool. I've never been to this show. I've been, I've never been in the McCormick Center. I've been around it. Like I'm familiar with that part of the city. Beautiful building. Like it's gonna be, it's gonna be cool. Jeff Perera: Yep. I looked back, I went last year, and I took 32,000 steps the day that I walked the floor. It was like nine something miles, it was insane. It was huge. Fills up every single convention space at the McCormick Center. Great show. The night before we walk the floor, Sunday night, we'll be in town for the Fast Casual Movers and Shakers Awards Gala to see where we rank in the top 100 movers and shakers. That'll be exciting too. So a lot of fun things to report back on. Aaron: I don't doubt that. Jeff Perera: when we come back next week. Aaron: I am jealous that you get to go. We're not doing bagels for this one, no. You just get to go. No working. Jeff Perera: No, this is no working, a walk the floor. I mean, there will be some working. We're meeting with our partners from Kraft Heinz. We're meeting with our partners from Red Bull. We're meeting with ⁓ our partners from Acme Smokefish. So we'll be working a bit as well. And ⁓ no bagel rolling for me. Aaron: That's excellent. No bagel rolling. It's like a vacation. Jeff Perera: Yeah, just like a vacation. Although I think this would be a really fun show potentially. too bad it's like so close to the restaurant leadership conference because I think like ⁓ the whole team out back to back to go to the show just gets hard. ⁓ just like work with workload. So this one's really just Catriona and I we go it's a way for us to ⁓ ideas to ⁓ ⁓ in on the trends for ⁓ happening in really looking at like 27. Aaron: Yeah. Jeff Perera: you know, we're not even thinking about this year. It's really what's gonna be happening next year, what direction are menus leaning, what flavor profiles are people leaning. ⁓ It's kind of like when the fashion world comes together and, you know, looks. Aaron: Yeah. Jeff Perera: three seasons ahead to say this is going to be the color and then they take that color to the textiles and the textiles start making that color and then they start designing off of the fabrics and the color palettes and things like that so far out in advance. So we're looking at those same things but with flavor, with menu, trends, innovation, things like that. yeah. Aaron: ⁓ that'll be awesome. We'll have to get some sneak peeks on what... Jeff Perera: I'll definitely come back with a full report. National Restaurant Association, restaurant show, full breakdown next week. It's gonna be good time. Aaron: flavor of the futurist. It's obvious it's going to be a Spanish Florentine. Jeff Perera: Spinach Florentine. Every time. That bagel's so good. Did you have it last week? That was so good. That's such a good one. I love that bagel. Well, that's all I've got for the run this week, Aaron. Bake fresh, bring joy, build community. We'll see you next week. Aaron: I It's a good one.