Monday, February 4, 2013

What 'Alphabet City institution' is looking for 'hipster girls ... bearded guys' to open a bakery?

An EVG reader sent along the following Craigslist posting...


Artisanal Baker/Pastry Chef Looking for Kitchen Space & Opportunities! (East Village)
Our east village restaurant / lounge / bar has a fantastic kitchen and is available in the mornings & afternoons, 7 days a week. You are someone with the perfect combination of experience and desire to grow your business. This arrangement is the perfect opportunity for an aspiring artisanal baker or pastry chef (muffins, breads, pastries and desserts) in your early - late 20s, hipster girls (tattoos a plus), bearded guys, skateboard aficionados. You'll have access to the industrial tools available in a fully functioning, established kitchen with a possible opportunity for retail space.

An Alphabet City institution, we've been an integral part of this neighborhood for well over a decade and are interested in adding a neighborhood-style bakery & coffee shop atmosphere to our menu. We've been featured on the Food Network, Throwdown with Bobby Flay, and endless industry publications.

For consideration, please submit a photo, resume (make sure to include website & social media) and cover letter. Looking to launch the kitchen share mid-February.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Any guesses? I have no idea. Maybe Caracas Arepa Bar on East Seventh Street? They opened in 2003 ... are not open in the mornings... and have appeared on Throwdown with Bobby Flay.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh no. Does this mean we are going to see the widespread use of the word "artisanal" in the East Village? Please tell me it isn't so.

pinhead said...

I used to be an aspiring artisinal bearded hipster baker, but then I realized I had no idea what that was.

shmnyc said...

Oh no! How will this affect the bodega owners?

Anonymous said...

Mmm...beard hair in my baked goods

Anonymous said...

As obnoxious as that is (maybe it's a joke?), it's really just the alternate version of the same kind of mentality in the corporate world. Wall Street still obsesses over a certain dress code and style of appearance. This kind of business/industry works the same way.

Everyone is stupid.

Anonymous said...

You need a website to work in a bakery now?

Anonymous said...

I'm pretty sure its against the law to discriminate job postings based on age (early-20s). A case can also be made they are discriminating on race as well ("bearded skateboarder" = whites only, please).

Anonymous said...

Last I checked, it was illegal to discriminate based on appearance....How hip will the hipsters look in beard hair nets?

Anonymous said...

Yeah, the ad sounds so amateur, it almost sounds like it is some kind of scam.
That said, Sullivan St Bakery has done a BF Throwdown. But I would be almost certain this ain't them. also not technically "Alphabet City" (god, I hate that term)

Anonymous said...

Of course employers "discriminate" based on appearance all the time, and there are many cases where this is justified. As in most jobs where aesthetics matter and interaction with the public occurs.

However, this aesthetic really turns me off. Why do all staff in cafes look like hipsters who haven't bathed in a week and wear "I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK" plaid and ski-cap get-ups? I'll take the European approach of a neat uniform and dignified appearance any day over that....

- East Villager

2 Hipster Guys from Ken's Kitchen said...

Submit a photo for a bakery job? No problem. We can start any time.

Marty Wombacher said...

@Ken's Kitchen: Ha ha ha!

Chris said...

Caracas doesn't really make sense since they don't have much of a bar/lounge, I don't think. Plus they open at noon, so no "afternoons."

Looking at Wikipedia I see that the chef for Pylos (Diane Kochilas) was on that Throwdown show. That might make more sense ... open for about ten years, has a bar, not open until 5pm.

Anyway, what a cynical approach to creating a partnership.

Hey19 said...

This does seem disingenuous, but there isnt a service business that doenst hire the majority of its staff based on appearances.

I will say this, what if they said they were looking for skinny girls? thats pretty much what every restaurant is looking for for their wait staff, they dont usually put it in their CL posting though... So it could be worse, or something?

Anonymous said...

If you hate the term "Alphabet City" you probably shouldn't be commenting on EV Grieve. The designation Alphabet City existed before there was such a thing as The East Village and we were all just considered The Lower East Side.

Dave on 7th said...

Although I don't think they would have been featured on Throwdown, at least not under the old ownership, but my vote is for Casimir. Not open in the day, can use more business and they have a lounge area that could be turned into a retail space of it's own.

Anonymous said...

It's not illegal to discriminate no the basis of appearance. There are only several types of protected classes (race, color, religion, gender, disability, national origin, veteran status). New York also prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Of course federal law also makes it illegal to discriminate based on age (but only when discriminating against those 40 and older, feel free to discriminate away against younger workers).

And I'm not sure that skateboarder in the EV means "whites only". At least when watching the skateboarders on 1st Ave.

/internet

shmnyc said...

Anonymous 2:39:

According to wikipedia:

Urban historian Peter G. Rowe posits that the name [Alphabet City] only began to become used in the 1980s, when gentrification spread east from the Village. The term's first appearance in the New York Times is in a 1984 editorial penned by then mayor Ed Koch, appealing to the federal government to aid in fighting crime on the neighborhood's beleaguered streets...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphabet_City,_Manhattan#Origin_of_the_term

Anonymous said...

@2:39pm
Nice try. Alphabet City was coined in the 1980's. (not saying there was no person anywhere on the planet who had not used that term, but... come on..) It's usage was almost uniformly derogative and used by people from outside the neighborhood (usually cops).

Anonymous said...

Cheesy, shallow and phony. This person is completely focused on appearance without substance and it isn't even for retail (yet)- it is just to use their space when the place is closed in the day time. That is the problem with EV and NYC these days- it's a facade of looking the part without any meaning or philosophy behind it. A costume ball.

Anonymous said...

I live in bushwick where there are plenty of black dudea.with.beards, who also skate so i dont know i saw three people that fit that description on my way to the bodega today