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September 25, 2012
No 'Brooklyn Water' and bagels for Brooklyn Nets arena
The Brooklyn Blog [NYPost.com]
by Rich Calder
A deal that would've brought Brooklyn Water and bagels to the new Barclays Center – by way of Boca Raton, Fla. – is toast.
Original Brooklyn Water Bagel Company, a subsidiary of Florida-based Brooklyn Water Enterprises, had planned to open its first metro-area restaurant at the Nets’ new arena and bake on-site.
But the deal, cut this spring, fell apart a few months later after the company determined the arena's heating and ventilation system wasn’t conducive to baking their products on-site, Steven Fassberg, founder and CEO of Brooklyn Water, told the Post yesterday.
All that technology and they can't bake a bagel?
The Brooklyn Water and bagels deal was part of the arena’s glitzy campaign to make the culinary experience at Barclays Center -- as "quintessentially Brooklyn as it gets."
But arena officials were criticized by some for choosing the out-of-state bagel franchise over the Big Apple’s more than 440 bagel shops, which include at least 115 in Brooklyn, according to Yelp.com.
Related coverage...
Grub Street New York, ‘Brooklynized’ Water Bounced From New Nets Arena
Norman Oder dons his restaurant-critic disguise...
The issue isn't locavore loyalism but is instead the arena's HVAC system, which won't allow for on-site baking, thus nixing the bagel deal. That's probably why, at the arena ribbon-cutting Sept. 21, attendees were given boring old Dasani, a product of the Coca-Cola Company, an arena "legacy partner."
Signs at the arena's concession stands simply list "bottled water." It costs $4.50.
Posted by eric at September 25, 2012 12:17 PM