ST. LOUIS — St. Louis clothing company Arch Apparel is the latest business to join the #bagelgate bandwagon with a new shirt that plays off the week's social media firestorm over how to slice a bagel.
"Yeah, we're embracing it," Arch Apparel owner Aaron Park said. "It seems so fun, why not?"
The shirt proclaims "It's Bread Co." on the front, though the rest of the world calls the cafe-bakery company Panera. "Sliced in St. Louis" runs across the back.
Park said he's been working on a partnership with Panera for a while, so they had to move fast when #bagelgate started trending online.
The same entrepreneurial spirit started the bread-sliced bagel itself.
"It was a practical approach to sampling some product," former St. Louis Bread Co. co-owner Doron Berger said.
When Berger and his business partner/neighbor, Ken Rosenthal, started serving bagels in their St. Louis eateries, they needed an easy way to slice and serve samples.
Berger said hand-slicing bagels was time-consuming and less precise. So, they put their existing bread slicers to work.
"People just started ordering them that way, and it caught on and caught on and caught on," Panera's Don Hutcheson said.
Hutcheson said the bagel debate boosted business so much, they're trying to keep up with demand.
Any social media debate will have its fair share of naysayers. To combat thirsty trolls disparaging the St. Louis food scene, Panera is showing its hometown some love with sliced bagel billboards.
"I think it's funny," Berger said. "I think it's fun. And certainly, it's a worthwhile distraction from all the serious things we face every day."
Park said Arch Apparel will start selling the Bread Co. t-shirts on its website Saturday. Panera employees at some area stores will sport a black version of the same design.